


Fixing Past Mistakes

by Kelticmoon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alcoholism, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, But only for Keith, Childbirth, M/M, Minor Character Death, Miscarriage, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Polyamory, Praise Kink, Temporary Character Death, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:08:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 29,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21770173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kelticmoon/pseuds/Kelticmoon
Summary: 7 Years after Allura sacrifices herself to end the war and save the mulit-verse and 6 years after the Lions disappear, Keith suddenly rescues Shiro from an ambush.In Keith's hand is the Red Bayard.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Shiro/OC (Voltron), The Blade of Marmora & Voltron Paladins
Comments: 28
Kudos: 82





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Decided to continue my thread from twitter on here since its getting kinda long...  
Based on this picture from Ribbit https://twitter.com/ribbitsplace/status/1199322078769496064?s=20. Picks up where her thread leaves off.

When Shiro comes to, the first thing he sees is 3 pairs of blue-violet eyes staring at him. 

He startles backward and blinks a few times.

There are 3 young girls who look almost exactly like Keith, but with red markings on their foreheads and cheeks and pointed ears like Krolia's staring at him. Their hair is black and while they’re all identical, they’re different sizes and wear their hair differently. The biggest has her hair the way Keith’s used to look, the smallest has pigtails perched at the sides of her head, and the middle has pigtails similar to Romelle’s.  


The middle one turns to shout behind her.

"PAPA! He's awake!" 

That's when Shiro sees he's in the living quarters of the Red Lion. 

"Thanks Romi!"

Keith's voice comes from where Shiro knows Red's pilot seat is. Two seconds later, Keith steps into view.

Shiro forgets how to breath for a moment as Keith walks toward them wearing his Senior blade armor. 

God, Keith's  gorgeous!

When the girls stand to move out of the way, Shiro sees they're all wearing mini-Blade uniforms.

Keith sits on the bed next to Shiro and that's when Shiro notices a new, fully healed scar on Keith's left cheek identical to the one on his right.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"You've been out for a day. Do you remember the attack?"

Shiro remembers.

He looks down at himself to see he's in sweatpants and a tank top with his injuries treated.

He looks back at Keith.

"What was that?"

"I'd rather explain it all at once so I'm not repeating myself."

"What do you mean "all at once"?"

"I've sent Acxa, Zethrid and Ezor, and Matt to go get Lance, Hunk, and Pidge and bring them to the rendezvous point. they've all been attacked too. Again, I'll explain everything when we get to the rendezvous point." 

The smallest of the girls tugs on Keith's Blade uniform. 

"Daddy..." 

Her voice is so timid. 

"Oh, girls!" Keith says as he remembers them.

"Shiro, meet my daughters."

Keith points to each daughter as he introduces them. 

"This is Allura." 

He points to the biggest. 

"Romelle."

The middle.

"And Katie."

The smallest who ducks behind Keith shyly.

"Girls, meet Shiro." 

Only Romelle greets him loudly while Katie hides shyly behind Keith and Allura just stands there with her arms crossed the way Keith used to.

"Hi! We're 5!" 

Katie tugs on Keith's shirt to whisper in Keith's ear. Shiro doesn't hear all of what she tells him, but he hears the word "handsome" halfway through that Keith blush when she finishes.

Keith clears his throat.

"Anyway, I cleaned and mended your clothes so when you can, get dressed. We're almost there." 

He turns to his daughters. 

"Come on, Girls. Lets give him some privacy." 

As the girls follow Keith, Romelle turns and waves.

"Bye Mr. Shiro!"

As Shiro gets dressed, Shiro does the mental math and determines the girls were born the year after Shiro last heard from Keith. He feels an ache in his heart at the knowledge that Keith became a father and had a partner and Shiro never knew. 

Shiro moves into Red's cockpit and sees the girls playing with Kosmo while Keith pilots. He looks out and sees they're approaching a planet with active volcanoes. He looks beyond the planet and can see Altea visible in the distance.  


They look about the same distance apart as Neptune and Uranus are in Earth's system. 

"Where are we?" 

"That's the rendezvous point. Its name is Pollux, Altea's sister planet."

As they land, Shiro sees the planet is either tropical like Hawaii or desert like where Keith grew up. They descend into a city comprised of stone buildings with domes. At the center is a large citadel with spaceships of every class and size parked around it. They land beside a starship shaped like a giant bird or dragon.  


The five of them leave the Red Lion with Kosmo and enter the citadel where they meet the other three Paladins along with Romelle, Matt, Acxa, Zethrid, and Ezor. Lance, Hunk, and Romelle look almost as roughed up as Shiro but Pidge barely looks scuffed.

The girls run to hug Matt and Romelle. 

"Uncle Matty! Auntie Romelle!"

Lance, Pidge, Hunk stare at the three girls with the same expression that was undoubtedly on Shiro's face when he first saw them.

"Oh good. You're all here. That makes this easy."

Keith smi les down at his daughters. 

"Girls, you know the drill. Go get your stuff for launch and meet me back here in 30 doboshes. Kosmo, go with them." 

K eith watches them head for a hall to their left. He maintains his smile until they disappear into a lift.

Keith's face becomes serious as he  turns to Acxa, Zethrid, and Ezor.  


"Have the crew bring Red on board and prep for launch."

"Right away."

He turns to Shiro and the others. 

"This way. Follow me." 

As they're walking Keith turns to Matt and Romelle. 

"Did Coran get here yet?" 

"He arrived shortly before we did," Romelle tells him. 

"He's already in the briefing room," Matt adds.

Shiro exchanges a perplexed look with Pidge, Lance, and Hunk as they follow Keith through the citadel. 

Eventually they reach a briefing room where Coran and Merla are already waiting. Keith closes the door firmly behind him once they all enter the room.

"Coran. Merla. Its good to see you. I wish it were under better circumstances." Keith greets them. 

"Now can you please explain what's going on?!" Pidge asks. 

"Seriously dude!" Hunk agrees. "One minute Romelle and I are cooking at my restaurant, the next thing I know I'm being attacked and Zethrid and Ezor pop out of nowhere and pull us into a ship!"

Lance turns to Pidge.

"You don't look like you're hurt too bad though."

Pidge and Matt snort.

"They made the mistake of attacking me in my lab."

"NEVER attack Pidge in her lab."  


"Who were those people who attacked us?" Shiro asks Keith.

Keith stands at the head of the table and explains. 

"They call themselves The Children of the Empire.  They are what's left of Zarkon and Haggar's old empire and they've been a thorn in the side of everyone on Daibazaal since the war ended.  They're split into two factions; The Soldiers of Zarkon, who are the Galra who still follow the power hungry "Victory or Death" rhetoric the empire promoted, and the Hands of Haggar, who are what's left of Haggar's old druids. Originally they worked separately and could easily be dealt with. Then, over a year ago..."

Shiro looks at Keith curiously as the other man gets too emotional to talk. When Matt gives Keith's shoulders a squeeze and steps in for him, Shiro's concern triples.

"They joined forces. Now, they're lethal... and their only goal is to avenge the old empire." 

"Wait. Matt, how do you know about them?" Pidge asks him. "Romelle and Keith I can understand, because Keith lives on Daibazaal and Keith's mom adopted Romelle but you rarely come into space anymore."

Keith, Romelle, and Matt exchange a meaningful look. 

"You three want to share something with the class?" Lance asks. 

The three of them nod together before Romelle turns to the others. 

"Matt has been assisting us with something Keith and I've been working on..."

"Does it have anything to do with you finding Red?" Shiro asks. 

That gets the attention of the other Paladins and Coran. 

"You have the Red Lion?!" Lance asks. 

Keith looks at Lance. 

"Actually, I have all five Lions at present." 

He looks at Shiro. 

"And Red found _**me**_."

The human Paladins all gawk at him. 

"You have all 5 Lions?"

"How?" 

Keith sighs.

"You remember how I heard the Blue Lion calling me? A year after the Lions disappeared, I started feeling something calling out to me again. Only it wasn't the Lions that were calling me. It was Allura."

The other Paladins stare at him. 

"You've been looking for Allura for 5 years and you didn't tell us?!" 

Keith glares at the looks of anger and hurt on Pidge, Lance, and Hunk's faces, and the hurt look on Shiro's.  Only Coran and Merla are looking at him understandingly.

"Ok, first of all, I didn't know it was Allura calling me until Red found me. Second of all, I DID tell you. All four of you treated me like I was going insane." 

Shiro gasps when he remembers his fight with Keith right before Keith disappeared for 5 years.  


He'd asked Shiro to go on a mission with him around that time, but Shiro declined stating he was retired. When Keith told him it was to find a way to bring Allura back; Shiro told him he needed to let her death go. That was the last time they spoke.

He'd regretted it ever since, even more so now that it turns out Keith was right. 

Guilt sits heavy in his stomach as he looks at Pidge, Lance, and Hunk. 

He can tell from their faces that something similar happened with them. 

Romelle turns to Coran. 

"We kept it from you so as to not get your hopes up should we fail."

Coran nods acceptingly at it. 

"I appreciate the thought. It's enough you were attempting it."

"Not just attempting, nearly done," Keith tells him. "Once we knew it was Allura who was calling me, we started focusing on finding the other Lions."

Merla looks confused.

"How? I thought only the Princess could determine the whereabouts of the Lions."

"After Red found me, I started hearing the other Lions' call alongside Allura's," Keith explains. "Black and Blue were the easiest to find. I knew their "voices" already, so to speak.  Green and Yellow were a little trickier. Yellow actually had to find me. This was all done in between humanitarian missions and such."

Matt looks at Keith.

"Although... the timing of their ambushes is kinda... odd..."

"What do you mean?" Pidge asks. 

"Well, we had just gotten the Green Lion and were about to go get you guys when my informants reported the ambushes."

"So you _were_ going to tell us again. Once you had better proof you weren't crazy..."

The self-anger in Pidge's words echo the remorse felt by Shiro, Lance, and Hunk. 

Because Keith shouldn't have had to make a second attempt. 

Because Keith shouldn't have had to find proof. 

They should have gone with him the first time. 

They should have already been here.

Instead, they brushed him off.

And it cost them 5 years of Keith's life.

Keith's silence says everything.

Shiro steps up to Keith. 

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you. I regretted it every day."

"Same," Pidge chimes in. 

"You shouldn't have had to prove it to us," Hunk adds. 

"The simple fact that you wanted to find Allura should have been enough," Lance concludes.

Keith looks at them. 

"I won't say its ok, because it wasn't. But I forgive you." 

They all hug him.

"So... what happens now?" Shiro asks when they pull away. 

"Well, my hunch is that if Allura could find the Lions, then maybe the Lions can find Allura."

"I'll alert the Co..." 

"NO!" 

Shiro jumps at Keith and Matt's declaration. 

"Beyond telling them you all are alive, under no circumstances are you to tell them what we're doing!" Matt insists. 

This surprised them.

"How come?" Hunk asks.

"The Children of the Empire have spies in the Coalition," Keith states.

"How do you know?" Lance asks. 

"How do you think my informants learned about the ambushes? My spies in the Coalition tripped over their spies in the Coalition."

The four Paladins blink at him.

"You have spies in the Coalition?" Pidge asks.

"You have spies?" Lance asks.

Keith raises an eyebrow at them.

"You guys **_are_ **aware I'm the leader of the Blades of Marmora now, right? We're literally spies and I have the entire network at my disposal."

"Why spy on the Coalition though?" Hunk asks.

"Because of the Soldiers of Zarkon and the Hands of Haggar. Even when they weren't working together, I knew they could quickly become a problem."

Every single person in that room knows what he's talking about. After all, the Voltron Coalition started as literally 7 people in one spaceship. 

"How do you know your Coalition spies aren't spies for the Children of the Empire?" Lance asks.

"Because most of my spies in the Coalition are either human or an alien that isn't Galra or whatever the Druids are and the ones that are Galra are retired Blades so I know I can trust them."

"If we aren't using a Coalition ship, then what ship are we using?" Pidge asks. 

Keith smirks at them. 

"My ship."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Phoenix is basically a Klingon Bird of Prey with Enterprise like quarters and such. Also, got the idea for changeable window views from Treasure Planet

As they're walking back to the door they entered from, Keith's daughters return with Kosmo; each carrying a different colored kitbag with different decorations on them.

Allura's is red with jets and stars, Romelle's is green with red and purple flowers, and Katie's is sunny yellow with hand-drawn doodles all over it.

They head out the doors of the citadel and Keith stops at the top of the steps in front of the birdlike spaceship prepping for launch next to where they landed in Red (which is now being loaded onto said ship). 

There's a hint of pride in Keith's voice when he speaks.

"This is my ship; the SSP Phoenix. She's half the size of Atlas and twice as fast. She's sturdy and even though she's classified as a civilian ship, she has a great weapons system, shields, and stealth capabilities." 

"Dude, is it your ship or another daughter?" Hunk teases.

"Oh! Speaking of daughters..." 

Keith quickly introduces his daughters to the others. Katie hides shyly behind Keith and waves. Allura doesn't exactly hide behind Keith, but she stays beside her father with her arms crossed with a stoic look on her face. Only Little Romelle greets them enthusiastically. 

"HI!"

Pidge, Hunk, and Coran get teary-eyed. 

"You named two of your daughters after Allura and me?" Pidge asks him.

Keith shrugs. 

"Two of the four strongest women I know. If they grow up to be half the women as their namesakes, I'd be a proud father. They almost had two brothers named Hunk and Lance but I miscarried, so..." 

Keith is cut off by Pidge, Hunk,and Lance all hugging him tearfully. 

Shiro can tell they aren't just touched by Keith's admittance.  


This makes what happened between them so much worse. 

Even after they refused to help him and treated him like he was crazy, he still thought enough of them that he named a daughter after Pidge and was going to name two sons after Lance and Hunk. 

They nearly lost this. 

They nearly lost this amazing person.

The moment is broken when Coran tries to hug little Allura. 

She immediately moves out of his reach behind Keith. 

"Dad..." 

That's the first time Shiro has heard her talk since he met her. She reminds Shiro of Keith when they first met.

Keith looks apologetically at Coran. 

"Allie doesn't really like being touched by strangers."

So much like Keith.

"Ah! My apologies then!" 

Coran gives her a courteous bow instead. 

"Is this better?"

Allura nods and gives him what Shiro remembers being the Blade greeting.

"Hey, wait," Lance says as he, Hunk, and Pidge pull away. "What did you mean by "you miscarried?"

"Oh Galra genders work differently than human ones do!" Coran explains."Not surprised to learn you're an Omega."  


"The short version is I can carry and have babies. I'll explain it better later. We really need to take off." 

The girls all pick up their bags and they head for the ship.

Coran turns to Merla. 

"Return to Altea and see that its still in one piece upon my return."

She looks at him in surprise. 

"You're not coming with me?" 

"The last time I sat out a Paladin mission, my surrogate daughter sacrificed herself to save the universe. Not making that mistake twice."

"As it happens, I've been needing a new helmsman. I already know you're more qualified than any of my crew," Keith tells him. 

"It's settled then!"

Coran turns back to Merla. 

"You're in charge while I'm gone."

"Yes, Coran. Be safe."

Keith looks at Merla. 

"Contact Commander Holt and warn him about the Children of the Empire. At the very least, the Coalition should be aware of the threat. The fewer messages to the Coalition from my ship, the better."

"I will."

Merla leaves as they walk toward the ship.  


"So are we going to meet the other par..."

"SHH!!" 

Matt covers Pidge's mouth before she can finish.

S he along with Shiro and the rest of the Paladins give him a puzzled look as Matt puts distance between them and Romelle, Keith, and his daughters.

"Try not to mention the other partner around them; specifically the girls," Matt warns.

"Why? Did something happen?" Shiro asks.

"You know how Keith said he miscarried his sons and he has a new scar on his face?"

They all nod.

"A year and a half ago, Keith and his partner were called away on a relief mission. They left the girls with Krolia before leaving. The mission turned out to be a trap. That was how we knew Hands of Haggar and Soldiers of Zarkon were working together. Their team was ambushed."

The four Paladins all gasp.

"Why?" 

"Both factions have been after Keith since the war ended. The Hands of Haggar are obsessed with him and the Soldiers of Zarkon just want him dead."  


"How bad was it?" Hunk asks. 

_**"BAD,**_" Matt tells them. "Keith lost both his partner and his unborn sons in the attack. Keith himself barely made it out alive."

"How _**did** _he make it out?" Shiro asks.

"That actually is how we knew something went sideways at their mission. Out of nowhere, the three Lions we had activated and left with Black leading them with his wings extended. When they returned, the Yellow Lion was with them. Yellow had Keith and his already dead partner held in his jaw. Apparently the spot The Children picked for an ambush was the same spot Yellow was. He protect Keith until the other Lions could get to them." 

"Good to know our Lions were there to protect him when we weren't," Hunk comments.  


"Keith was a mess after that; both physically and emotionally. We actually put a hold on the search for Green so Keith could find solid ground again."

"Makes sense," Lance comments. 

"Anyway, Keith still gets emotional when he talks about the ambush and the girls are still a little touchy about it. Especially Allie. I mean, Allie's always been kinda quiet and reserved, but she's even more so now."

"Is that why Katie's so timid?" Pidge asks.

Matt smiles.

"No, she's genuinely really shy around new people. Once she warms up to you, she's a little sweetheart. Just be careful talking about it. "

"Hey, you guys coming or what?!" 

They look up and see Keith noticed their absence.

Shiro's heart hurts for Keith as they quickly catch up to him.

They walk up the gangway into the ship and are soon  met by a female Blade who Keith addresses.

"Nomir, status report." 

"The Phoenix is ready for launch, Captain. We await your command."

"Red's safe in the Lion bay?"

"Affirmative."

Keith turns to the other Paladins. 

"This is Nomir, my second-in-command." 

He turns back to Nomir. 

"Nomir, meet the rest of the Paladins and Coran. Show the Paladins to their quarters please." 

"Affirmative. Right this way."

As they leave, Keith turns to his daughters.

"Girls, go with them and drop off your things in our quarters."

Romelle moves to follow them, but Allura and Katie grip the hem of Keith's uniform and look up at him silently. 

Keith softens.

"Would you two like to help me show Coran the bridge?" 

They both nod. 

Keith looks at his remaining daughter. 

"Would you please bring your sisters' bags with you?" 

"Sure, Papa!" 

Little Romelle easily hefts the three bags over her shoulder like she's carrying a jacket. 

Little Romelle walks alongside them as Nomir leads them to a large lounge shaped like an arrowhead. On one side of the lounge are four rooms. On the other is the Captain's quarters, as evident by Little Romelle walking straight through the door. On the wall opposite of the doorway into the lounge is a final door. The only other things in the lounge are a couch, coffee table, and view-screen. 

Shiro and the other Paladins all open the doors to the quarters they're given and gasp when they see them.

Their quarters here are bigger than they were on the Castle of Lions, but not quite as big Shiro's quarters on Atlas. Immediately to the left of the door is a full bathroom with a combination bathtub and shower with a sliding door on one side and a sink and toilet on the other. Across from the bathroom to the right of the door is a sitting area with couch, a circular coffee table, and what looks like a small dining table in front of a wall with some kind of computer screen and some shelves. On the opposite side of the room from the sitting area is a full bed next to a dresser that doubles as an end table that's built into the wall it shares with the bathroom. However, the best feature is on the far wall opposite the door with the bedroom and sitting area against it.  


"Dude! Our rooms have **_windows_** now!!" Hunk exclaims. 

"Are these windows made of glass?" Pidge asks inquisitively as she examines said windows. 

"Yes, but not like the ones on Earth made from sand." 

They turn and see Little Romelle has rejoined them.

"The glass isn't made from sand?" Hunk asks her. 

She shakes her head. 

"They're made from diamonds that were melted and re-solidified into a sheet of glass that's virtually indestructible. Also the windows are all protected by a particle barrier run by the backup engine. See!"

Romelle runs into Pidge's quarters and hops on the couch to knock on the window, which immediately glows a fiery reddish orange color when struck. 

"Cool!" Hunk and Pidge say in unison.

"Wanna see something cooler?"

Romelle presses some buttons next to a small screen between the windows. Instantly the windows change from a view of the planet outside to a view of a lush rain forest complete with sounds. 

"You can change the view out the windows?" Lance asks.

Romelle looks at the window she just changed and then back at Lance. 

"No?" 

Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge all snort at that. 

She's definitely Keith's daughter.

"There are different views too!"

Romelle demonstrates by touching some more buttons and changes from the rain forest to a desert to a city.

She finally lands on one that's a fairy tale forest with dragons and unicorns and fairies flying around. 

"This one's my favorite! This one's Katie's favorite."

She changes it to what looks like the inside of a hobbit hole, complete with a fire in the fireplace.

"Allie likes this one." 

She changes it to a lava flow from an erupting volcano.  


"Hey Romelle, what's this?" 

Shiro points to the computer screen on the wall next to the dining table as he asks. 

"Oh that's the room computer and the in-room kitchen!" 

She runs up to it and presses some buttons that brings up a language menu.

"You can pick any language you want everything in the room to be written in, see!" 

She presses the button for Japanese and everything is written and spoken in Japanese.

"Erm... I have profound dyslexia," Lance tells her. "I can't read because of it."

"Half the crew can't read either," Romelle tells him. "One of the first things Papa did was have the computers all operate on voice command and have a little speaker icon next to each button to show what they are. Just tell it to select the language you want everything spoken in."

"If the quarters all have in-room kitchens, does that mean there's no mess hall or kitchen?" Hunk asks. 

"Oh there's definitely are. The in-room kitchens are for those who need to remain in their quarters for whatever reason."

Hunk looks at Romelle. 

"You're a pretty smart 5 year old."

Romelle gives them a boastful little grin. 

"I'm the smart triplet! Katie's the creative one, Allura's the strongest one." 

Suddenly they feel the ship give a noticeable rumble as the main engines start. 

"We're launching!!" 

She grabs Shiro's hand and pulls him to the door.

"Come on! Come on! We don't want to miss it!" 

As Romelle pulls him into the hall, Shiro asks. 

"What's through that last door?"

"Oh that's Gramma's quarters when she's on ship with us. Second biggest quarters on the ship after Papa's. My sisters and I have a room there, too!"

"Where'd my brother and Adult Romelle go?" Pidge asks. 

"Uncle Matty's probably down in engineering with Auntie N7. Auntie Romelle is on the bridge with Papa and my sisters. She's one of the bridge crew!" 

"I heard your Dad call you Romi in the Red Lion. Is that how people call you to avoid confusion.

"Uh huh!"

They arrive on the bridge as Keith is finishing up the systems checks for launch. 

Keith's in a chair where the Captain's post on the Atlas is with a holographic control panel in front of him. The only seat in front of Keith's chair is the helm, as evident by Coran sitting there. The scanners, weapons, and coms are all positioned behind the captain's chair, one of which has adult Romelle sitting in it. Next to the Captain's chair are two little seats beside it; one on each side with Allura and Katie sitting in them. Romelle moves to sit in one of the seats with Katie.  


"Main engines are active."

"Mega-thrusters are go!" 

"Captain, we're ready to depart on your mark!"

"Firing main engines for launch," Keith says, typing something into his control panel.  


Soon, the ship lifts off the ground into the air until they are clear from Pollux's orbit with Altea visible in the distance. 

"Activating wormhole engine!" 

Keith presses a button and a red wormhole ring appears in front of the ship.

"Attention Atlas crew. Prepare for wormhole jump."

Shiro and the other Paladins hold onto the railing between the captain's chair and the three positions behind it as the ship enters the wormhole.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I call bullshit on Shiro's bond with Black being severed.

"Set a course for Daibazaal."

"Yes, Captain," Coran tells him.

Keith deactivates his console and stands.

"Nomir, you have the bridge."

"Yes, Captain."

Shiro stares breathless at Keith as he walks up to them with his daughters in tow. Command suits Keith well.  


"Now that we're en-route, we can relax a bit. I'm sure you guys are eager to see the Lions." 

Keith leads them all into a lift.

The girls get off on different floors of the ship on the way down to where the Lions are kept. 

"I'm surprised you brought your daughters along for this. Isn't it kinda dangerous?" Lance asks. 

"There's no safer place for them right now then at my side," Keith tells him calmly.

"Is it ok for them to wander around the ship unsupervised?" Hunk asks. 

"It is when I know exactly where they're going," Keith tells them. "I know my daughters interests and personalities and I know exactly what's on each floor that interests them." 

"For example?" Pidge asks.

"Deck 3 where Allie got off has the training deck. She likes to practice her sharpshooting. She's pretty good at it too. Deck 6 where Katie got off has the kitchen and mess hall. She likes to bake things. She makes a mean blueberry pie. Finally deck 7 where Romi got off has the engineering and tech lab."

"That one you don't have to explain to us," Pidge tells him. 

"Yeah, she was showing us the stuff in our rooms," Hunk adds. 

Keith smiles at that. 

"Did she tell you she was the one who invented the holographic window scenes and came up with the concept of the in-room kitchens? Or that she used the cloak you added to Green to make one for the Phoenix?"

"She left out that part."

"She always reminded me of you, Pidge. Always coming up with new ideas." 

The lift doors open and they walk to a single bay at the end of a corridor where all 5 Voltron Lions stand. 

Shiro and the others approach the Lions while Keith hangs back.

Shiro sees Hunk place a hand on Yellow's paw and speaks to his Lion. He only hears the words "Thank you" at the beginning and knows Hunk's thanking his Lion for protecting Keith. 

Shiro looks up at the Black Lion but doesn't say anything.  He honestly can't bring himself to say anything. Shiro has made so many mistakes since the war ended. So many mistakes. He has so much to make up for. Shiro smiles as he feels Black try to soothe him over their bond. He can't express his gratitude in words, but Black knows.

Keith gives them the rest of day to settle in and rest, given they're still recovering from their attacks. 

The following morning there's a short briefing where Keith explains that they're flying past Daibazaal's system to pick up Krolia before getting to the mission at hand. After the briefing, Keith gives them a better tour of the ship before being called away to take his place on the bridge.

~

Lance goes down to the training deck on deck 3. After going a few rounds with the drone, he practices his shooting since he's a little rusty.  He’s shot a few rounds with his rifle when he starts seeing darts hit a target next to him.

He looks and sees Allie standing with a dart gun. 

She catches his gaze. 

“What?” 

“Nothing! Just wasn’t expecting a dart gun.”  


She raises an eyebrow.

“You think Dad would let a 5 year old play with a regular gun without his supervision?” 

“Good point.” 

There’s silence between them for a few doboshes as they shoot their targets.

“Bet I can get more bullseyes than you...” she tells Lance without looking at him.

“You’re on!”

~

Meanwhile, Hunk is in the kitchen mixing up getting a bowl together to bake. As he's fetching ingredients, he sees a small face out of the corner of his eye peeking out from behind one of the counters. When he looks, it disappears behind the counter again. This repeats the entire time he's gathering ingredients.  


“Its alright. You can come out. I won’t hurt you,” Hunk tells her gently.

Katie peeks out again. 

“I’m baking some cookies. Do you want to help me?” 

She nods quietly and walks over to him timidly. She quickly climbs up on a chair next to him.

After they mix the ingredients together in a bowl, Hunk tastes it. 

“Hmmm... it needs something...” 

Katie tastes it and then hops down to grab something out of the cabinet. She comes back and hands him a small box. Hunk looks at it and sees its powder mix for chocolate pudding. Hunk adds it then tastes it again.

“Wow! You’re right, that’s just what it needed!” 

She smiles at him. 

“Let’s get these in the oven then!”

~

Pidge gets to the engineering and tech lab to find Romi already working on something at the computer. 

"What's that you're working on?" Pidge asks her. 

"I'm trying to make a new kind of program for the training deck that works like a video game." 

"Need any help?"

"A little..." Romelle admits. 

Pidge pulls out her laptop and works together with Romelle on the program.

~

Shiro is exploring the ship later that day when he finds Keith sitting on a couch on the Observation deck for the Phoenix. 

Shiro hesitates before walking up to him.

"Can I sit with you?" 

Keith nods and Shiro sits on the couch with him.

They sit in silence for a few moments as Shiro gets the nerve to speak. 

"I owe you another apology... I'm sorry for our fight... and what I said." 

Keith sighs.

"I'm sorry too." 

Shiro shakes his head.

"Don't be. You were right and we both knew it. I did rush into my marriage to Curtis way too fast and it was a cheap way to ease the regrets I have with Adam. I just didn't want to admit it..." 

"I see you're ringless..." 

Shiro nods.

"I left him a week after you left... We divorced a month later. I was going to tell you at the following anniversary reunion...but that year you didn't show up, nor did you show up any year after.  I think that was when I'd realized how much I fucked up. I honestly thought I'd ruined any chance of fixing things." 

"Its fine, Shiro." 

"No, its not!"

Shiro closes his eyes. The words from their fight have echoed in Shiro's mind since the day it happened.

~

_"Keith, I'm retired now. Besides, Curtis won't let me go into space for that long."_

_"'Let you?' Shiro, I don't think your relationship with Curtis is healthy."_

_"You just want our relationship to fail so you could have a chance."_

_Shiro regretted it the second he said it._

_"You think I would ever want your relationships to fail, Shiro?"_

_ "Keith, I..." _

_"Shiro, I knew you didn't love me the same way I love you. I don't care. I never did. As long as you're happy than that's good enough for me. I just wanted my best friend back. I miss how close we used to be and I thought maybe you might feel the same... guess I was wrong... Apparently my feelings for you isn't the only thing that meant more to me than it did you..."_  


~

Shiro slides off the couch until he's kneeling in front of Keith. 

"Keith, not only was I being a stubborn ass, but you left that day thinking something that has **never** been true." 

There are tears in Shiro eyes as he takes Keith's hand in his.  


"I understand if you don't believe me... considering how I acted... but... your friendship means more to me than _anything_ in this universe. You supported me when everyone except Matt and his dad didn't. Even my own fiance didn't support me going to Kerberos. You have always been there for me when I needed it, but I never seem to return the favor." 

"That's not true," Keith tells him. "You were the first person who accepted me being part Galra." 

"And then I abandoned you after Allura brought me back. I don't even know why I was distancing myself from you, I just was. But... Keith, you weren't the only one who missed how close we once were. I did too. I want my best friend back too, Keith. I want to fix our friendship too. Please tell me it can be fixed."

Keith smiles back at him.

"You once gave me a second chance..."  


The two hug for the first time since Shiro first woke up in his new body.

Shiro pulls away and presses his forehead against Keith's. 

"I've missed so many chances to be there for you in the last 5 years. I mean, I didn't even know you had kids, let alone had a husband..."

"Partner."  


"Huh?" 

"Drax and I weren't married. Just domestic partners. Most Galra don't marry like humans do, we mate. The closest Earth equivalent is domestic partners." 

Shiro sits next to Keith on the couch again. 

"I'm sorry for what happened to him. Matt told us about the ambush."  


Keith smiles sadly. 

“So am I. He was a good partner and a better father.”

“How’d you meet him?” 

“He was the only other Blade promoted to Senior Blade the same day I was. Eventually he was became the helmsman of Phoenix before Coran. That's why the position's still open. I can't bring myself to find a permanent replacement. I can't even start looking. It hurt too much. When I started feeling Allura calling me, even before Red found me, he was the only one other than Mom and Kolivan who didn’t act like I was going crazy. Before I knew it...”

Keith trails off as a tear rolls down his face. 

Shiro pulls Keith into his side and Keith leans against him.  


“You know he told me you guys would come around one day...”

Shiro stays silent as Keith continues.

“He said the bond the 5 of us have is stronger than any one argument and that you guys, above everything, still made mistakes. When I told him I thought he was full of shit, he didn't get mad; he understood... Then the girls were born and he was the best dad. It was easy then. I could be captain and he’d take care of them. Then we’d switch. Now it’s just me. Mom helps when she’s here, but she and Kolivan are the representatives for the Galra so most of the time it’s just me and them. I mean, they're 5! They should be starting school and making friends their own age. Instead they wander a ship by themselves with only my crew for company. My crew adores them and help where they can but they're my crew. They have jobs to do that don't involve watching my kids."  


"Your girls also get to meet people from all over the universe and learn about different planets and cultures. Just because they aren't in school doesn't mean they aren't actively learning." 

Keith sighs. 

"I guess. Still, they should have friends their own age. I should be taking them to the park and spending more time with them.  They deserve a dad who can tuck them in every night..." 

"Hey!" 

Keith falls silent. 

"That's enough of that. You're doing the best you can, Keith."

"Its just so hard doing this by myself... I need to be here for my girls, but its hard when I have to work so much. Not to mention... I'm hurting too..."

Shiro thinks for a moment.

"You were 7 when your father died, weren't you?"

Keith looks up at Shiro and nods.

"What was it like living with him?"

Keith thinks.

"Well, Pop and I didn't have a whole lot. Just the old family farm and that shack I lived in for a while. The only real toys I had was this little toy rocket that he got me, I'm assuming after Mom left and a stuffed hippo. He also worked a lot. One of my first memories was of that fire station. I would hang out or sometimes sleep at the station and the chief would watch me whenever he went out on a call. When I started school, he'd work while I was at school so he could be home with me. He'd still work nights sometimes though."

"When you think of your dad, did you think of what you didn't have?"

"No. I remember how much he loved me. He'd take me camping every weekend when weather permitted and we'd go see the exhibits on space and such. I was obsessed with space as a kid. Now that I know I'm half alien, it makes sense."

Shiro hugs Keith.

"If you don't remember things like that, what makes you think your girls do?"  


Shiro can tell Keith isn't fully convinced.

As Shiro and Keith return to the lounge outside their quarters, they find Pidge and Romi sitting on the couch. 

Romi runs to Keith when she sees them.

"Papa! Auntie Pidge helped me get the program I'm making for the training deck working!" 

"Awesome!"

Lance comes in with Allie then and she makes a beeline for Keith. 

"Dad, can Uncle Lance teach me to shoot a rifle?!" 

Keith raises an eyebrow at Lance. 

"Wait, what?" 

"Your daughter nearly kicked my butt at sharpshooting. I made an off-handed comment that she should learn to shoot a rifle and well..."

"Please Dad! Please!"

Keith sighs. 

"As long as Uncle Lance is with you each time, its fine with me." 

"Yay!" 

"Besides, if anyone can teach you how to shoot a rifle, its the team sharpshooter," Keith adds with a smirk at Lance.

Hunk and Katie appear then with a plate of cookies.

Romi and Allie run to grab one.

"Yay, cookies!" 

"Fresh from the oven!" 

Katie hugs Keith's legs. 

"Daddy, I helped Uncle Hunk make them!"

Keith picks her up.

"You did?!"

"Dude, her pudding ingredient made them so much better."

Keith laughs. 

"She uses pudding for everything. You should try her pudding cake sometime."

Keith sets Katie down so she can grab a cookie and is struck by how easily his daughters accepted the other Paladins as family.

Shiro puts a hand on Keith's shoulder. 

"See. They may not have the life of the average 5 year old, but that doesn't mean they don't have a good life here. You're a great parent, Keith." 

Keith smiles at Shiro.

"Thanks."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith sounds like the Pepe Silvia meme when he's explaining the Universal Cauldron idea to them

The followin g day Krolia joins them.  


All three girls run to her as soon as she steps out of her ship.

"GRAMMA!!"

Krolia somehow scoops all three of them up into her arms. 

"Hello small ones."  


Keith walks up to them as Krolia sets them down again. 

"Hey Mom."

They hug and the three girls hug their legs. 

"The Coalition is not happy with you, Keith," Krolia comments when they pull away. 

Keith scoffs. 

"When are they ever happy with me?"

"The Garrison has also made it known that they don't appreciate you essentially kidnapping their admiral as well as the head of technology advancement."

Krolia gestures to Shiro and Pidge.

Keith brushes it off.

"They're just pissed because they know I was right and their hubris got their precious warship destroyed."

Shiro's heart twists. 

Keith had told them at the briefing yesterday, but its still hard to believe.

Atlas. 

Gone.

He almost didn't believe Keith at first, but the lack of Atlas' presence in his mind was enough to tell him it was true. 

"Wait, I thought the Coalition didn't know about the Children of the Empire until recently," Pidge asks.

"The _Coalition_ didn't," Keith clarifies. "But I warned the Garrison about the growing threat they posed. I may not call Earth my home anymore, but I'm still fond of it. We warned them again when word got to us that Shiro had come out of retirement, but they insisted there was "nothing to worry about"." 

Acxa approaches them with Zethrid and Ezor.

"I suggest we move this conversation to the briefing room."

Keith looks at his daughters.

"Could you girls help Acxa, Zethrid, and Ezor unload Gramma's shuttle?" 

The girls nod and go to help.

"So what's our next step, Keith?" Lance asks as soon as they get to the briefing room. "I'm guessing you have a plan."  


"Throughout my humanitarian missions, I've noticed a few things that stuck out to me," Keith begins. "You know how on Earth we have differing myths, stories, and legends about an afterlife of some kind."

They all nod.

"Well, the one common thing I've noticed is that every single planet with intelligent life on it has some kind of legend about some kind of origin point and end point for life. In the younger planets like Earth, often times they're separate. However, the older the civilization and the older the culture, the more we see legends of them being the same exact place."

"AH! Of course! The Universal Cauldron!" Coran exclaims. 

"The what?" Hunk asks.  


"A place known to all ancient civilizations as the place where all life comes from when it is created and all life goes to when it dies. I always thought it just a legend, but considering we've actually BEEN to the Oriande, it is entirely possible it actually exists."

"Not just probably Coran. I have reason to believe the place actually exists," Keith tells him. 

"How in the quiznak are we going to find such a place?" Pidge asks. 

"Well, in every legend we've discovered, life starts in either the sky, the center of the planet, or both if they're split."

Hunk catches on.

"Like heaven and hell for the Abrahamic religions, the underworld for ancient Greece, and Valhalla for the Norse." 

"So what does that have to do with where this place is? More importantly, what does ANY of this have to do with finding Allura?" Lance asks.

Shiro catches on to Keith's thought.

"If the common thread for all of these beliefs involves the sky and center of a planet, maybe the Universal Cauldron is in the center of the Universe somewhere."

"We're talking a place so old, the closest stars are points of light in the distance," Keith tells them. 

"How do we even find such a place?" Hunk asks. 

"With the Lions."

They go down to the room with the star map. Keith places the Voltron bayards around the platform before standing on it and focusing.

There’s a flash of red before a star map comes up.  Some coordinates appear on the map.

Keith and Krolia frown as Romelle stares. 

“I know those coordinates...” Keith mutters.  


"Something wrong?" Shiro asks. 

Krolia turns to them.

"That's where the quantum abyss is."

Lance, Hunk, and Pidge's eyes widen. 

"Didn't you say that place was harrowing Keith?"

Keith doesn't look at Hunk as he answers. 

"It is. Not only are the creatures that live out there dangerous, but if we're not careful 10 minutes can turn into 10 years." 

"Can we get there from here?" Pidge asks. 

"Not all in one jump," Keith tells them. "The strain would be too much. We'd blow the wormhole engine and have to limp back."

"You know your ship better than we do," Shiro tells Keith. "How do you suggest we go about this?" 

"We jump to an area closer to the Abyss and then use the main engines to move closer for a week so the wormhole engine can rest." 

"How long do you think it'll take?" Pidge asks.

"Just getting out there? About a phoeb. That's assuming we don't run into either faction of The Children along the way, which, knowing our luck, I can almost promise we will."

~

They make the first jump of the journey and complete that rest week with few problems.

Its the second week that they run into a Children of the Empire ship. 

"Oh, thank God! Its just the Soldiers!" Keith breathes in relief. "If we have to fight, I'd rather it'd be them."

"You have a preference?" 

Keith raises an eyebrow at Lance. 

"You remember the fight with Macidus? Imagine a whole ship of him." 

"Good point." 

"Besides, they've been trying to capture me since the war ended."

"Matt mentioned that. Why?" Shiro asks. 

"Soldiers of Zarkon think I'm a blood traitor and want to kill me while the Hands of Haggar want to experiment on me and THEN kill me."

The enemy ship opens fire on them. 

"Captain, I don't think we can run from this!" Coran tells them. 

"Lock onto the shield generators on the first ship with the photon cannons." 

"Shield generators on ship 1 locked on," Romelle tells him.

"Fire!"

Several photon missiles go straight through the shields to hit the generators.

The shields the ship quickly goes down. In no time, they're swarmed with fighters. 

"Its like we blew up a hornets nest!" Pidge states. 

"Launch fighters." 

Keith's fighters engage. 

Keith quickly gets up from his chair.

"Nomir, you have the bridge." 

"Yes, Captain."

"Where are we going?" Lance asks as the Paladins all follow Keith. 

"The Lion Bay. There are four Cruisers out there. Even without their shields, my guys will need help taking them down. We need the Lions." 

"But, you're the Captain; aren't you? Shouldn't you stay here?" Hunk asks.

Keith shuts him up with a look.

"I don't lead from a goddamn chair. If my guys go into battle, so do I. Until now, I'd just pick the Lion better suited for the fight and take it for a spin." 

"You mean between Red or Black?" Pidge asks. 

Keith shakes his head.

"Blue, Green, and Yellow have been letting me fly them. Don't know why? Most often for something like this I use either Red or Black because they're faster. However, this is the first fight with more than one Paladin present."

"Which Lion will you be using?" Shiro asks. 

"Black absolutely needs to be on the field for this fight with 4 cruisers..." 

There's a huge explosion that rocks the ship. 

"3 cruisers. I need Red too to help with those fighters so Lance, I'm gonna need you on the field with Red."

"Hunk, Pidge, you know your Lions." 

"On it." 

Keith, Pidge, Lance, and Hunk quickly change and take off in their Lions, leaving Shiro and Blue behind. 

Shiro returns to the Bridge to watch the fight unfold.

For the majority of the fight, they are doing pretty well. Two of the three remaining ships are destroyed and they're down to the one ship and its fighters when out of nowhere, ANOTHER cruiser arrives. 

Shiro hears Keith curse over the coms and knows what he's going to say.

"Fuck! Its the Hands of Haggar!"

Shiro's blood runs to ice. 

That one ship renders the Lions useless by themselves. 

They need to form Voltron.

Shiro turns on his heel and runs for the Lion bay.  He quickly changes into his Paladin armor and approaches the Blue Lion.

He sits in Blue's seat. 

"I know I'm not Lance or Allura or even Keith, but the other Paladins will die if they don't form Voltron." 

Blue doesn't really take much convincing. She immediately lights up for him and he quickly flies her out to the others.

"Its good to have you back in a Lion, Shiro!" 

"Its good to be back in a Lion, Hunk." 

"No time for formalities! Form Voltron!" 

The dynamic is a little new with the pilots being switched up, but the five of them still work together well enough to take down the Hands of Haggar ship and remaining Soldiers of Zarkon ship. 

Shiro had forgotten how much of a thrill flying was. 

Because of the battle, they have to set down on a moon to make repairs to the ship before continuing.

~

Along the way, Shiro and the other Paladins get to know Keith's girls and grow to love them.

In addition to what they know, it turns out little Katie inherited her father's sword fighting ability while Allie and Romi inherited his piloting skills.  


Its not all rainbows though.

Allie is Keith in miniature; from her looks to her personality. Which means that like Keith, they have to earn her trust. The other three Paladins quickly earn it, but she doesn't seem to like Shiro that much and he has a feeling he knows why.

One night as Keith is hanging out with Shiro in the lounge after the girls have gone to bed, all three of them come out crying. 

"We had a bad dream," Romi cries. 

Keith pulls them all into his arms. 

"Was it the usual?" 

T hey all nod.

Keith carries the three girls into his quarters with Shiro trailing behind.

Shiro hesitates when he gets inside the door as Keith settles with them on the couch.

"You can come in if you want."

So Shiro does.

Shiro looks around the quarters as he removes his boots. 

The room they're in is slightly smaller than Shiro's quarters were on Atlas, but only because there were actually walls with doors dividing the quarters into rooms; two bedrooms and a bathroom (possibly 2 if there's one in the master bedroom).

Across from the door is a dining table with 5 chairs next to one of those in-room kitchens on the wall. To the right of the door is a work desk in front of a bookcase, both loaded with books and pictures of the girls with Keith and one of the larger Galra with red markings like the girls who could only be Drax. Across from the desk under the window is the couch Keith is sitting on with his daughters. Next to that is a little place specifically for the girls in front of a door with all three of their names on it. There's a second door on that walk that leads to a full bathroom with tub. To the left of the door to the captain's quarters is another door that likely leads to the master bedroom (and master bathroom if he has one). 

There are a lot of warm reds and oranges in the main room that give it an inviting look. The window view looks like the desert where Keith's shack is at night.  


"Can I do anything to help?" Shiro asks softly.

"Actually yes. There's a button on the in-room kitchen labeled "bad dream medicine"." 

Shiro presses it and four mugs of hot chocolate pop up with a mountain of marshmallows and whipped cream. He brings them to Keith and the girls.

“Thanks.” 

Shiro watches Keith comfort and rock his girls to sleep before carrying them one at a time into their room. Its so unbelievably intimate and Shiro can't help but admire Keith more.

Shiro follows them as Keith carries his last daughter in and sees a room with a single full sized bed that the three girls share with a dresser on the wall. All over the walls are posters with the girls' various interests.  


Keith kisses the three of them good night and slips out of the room. 

Keith leans against the wall beside the door with a sigh. 

"Rough night?" 

Keith nods wordlessly as he moves to clean up the mugs.

"They've been having nightmares since the ambush..."

Shiro follows Keith as he continues while putting the dishes in the kitchen. 

"Its actually better than it was. Right after I got out of rehab, they refused to leave my side. I still can't leave them anywhere for missions."

"They're afraid to lose you." 

Keith leans against the table.

"The worst part is I know there are nights they have nightmares when I'm working because I'll return to find them curled up in my bed asleep with Kosmo. Shiro, I know that fear. I've lived it. I can't always be here for them and I want to."

Keith breaks down. 

Shiro wraps his arms around Keith from behind as he cries. After a minute, he pulls Keith over to the couch and holds him until Keith cries himself to sleep the way his girls did. Shiro picks him up and carries him to his bed. He quickly dresses Keith for bed, noticing he was right about there being a master bathroom. After covering Keith up gently, Shiro leaves.

~

A few nights later, Shiro's sitting in the lounge reading while Keith is on night watch on the Bridge when he hears the door to Keith's quarters open.

The girls stop in their tracks when they only see Shiro.

"Where's Daddy?" Katie asks.

"Daddy's working tonight. Did you girls have a bad dream?"

Romi and Katie both nod while Allie eyes him with suspicion.

Shiro thinks for a moment before marking his book and ushering them back into their quarters. He gets the cocoa, calms them down (even Allie), and when they fall asleep, puts them to bed.

Shiro's cleaning up the cocoa mugs when Keith returns.

Keith sees the mugs and immediately knows.

"I just got them back to bed," Shiro whispers to Keith as he brings the mugs to the kitchen.

Keith looks stunned.

"You took care of my daughters for me?"

Shiro shrugs as he places the mugs on the shelf of the kitchen.

"The girls didn't seem to mind so I figured why no-... Mmph!!"

Keith grabs Shiro by the front of his shirt and yanks him into a fierce kiss. When the shock wears off, Shiro returns the kiss with equal ferocity as Keith pins him against the wall next to the kitchen.

When they finally pull away, they're both breathless.

"Is this ok?"

Keith breath is hot against Shiro's lips.

Shiro answers by flipping them over so that he's pinning Keith against the wall.

"More than ok..."

Shiro captures Keith's lips again.

Keith breaks away long enough to pull Shiro into his room. He has Shiro up against the wall with Keith's tongue in Shiro's mouth before the door has even closed. Keith removes the belt and takes off his Blade uniform while Shiro removes his uniform jacket. All without breaking the kiss. Shiro groans the moment his hands touch skin as he moves his hands over the younger man's body. Before Keith can move his body suit down past his hips, Shiro flips them around again before picking Keith up and pinning him to the wall. He feels Keith's hands move to his chest and pins them above Keith's head with his right hand.

They spend the next several hours taking each other apart and putting each other back together. No lover has ever set fire to Shiro's veins the way Keith has. 

Hours later, they lay naked in Keith's bed together, exhausted but very satisfied.

"Wow!" Shiro breathes as they catch their breath. 

"Yeah," Keith agrees . 

Keith looks up at Shiro  from where he lays against Shiro's left side, his head and hand on Shiro's chest . 

"I'm glad you didn't get weirded out by everything. I mean... Its one thing to sleep with a Galra; they know how Galra reproductive genders work. Humans, not so much."

Shiro presses a kiss into Keith's forehead. 

"I'll admit its different, but its a part of you, Keith. Why wouldn't I love it?" 

They fall silent for a moment until Keith gives Shiro an insecure look.

"So... what happens now?"

Shiro looks at him. 

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, was this a one time thing? Are we together? Are we friends with benefits?" 

Shiro smiles at Keith. 

"I leave that up to you. Personally though, I want us to be together."

Keith looks so surprised it hurts.

"You do?"

"I wouldn't have had sex with you for the last few hours if I didn't." 

"But... I thought you didn't love me that way?"

Shiro looks up at the ceiling. 

"Its kinda one of the things I realized while you were gone. I didn't just miss you and regret what happened. I was...am... in love with you. I probably have been for a long time. I was going to confess after admitting you were right, but..." 

"I didn't show up." 

Shiro closes his eyes.

"When I'd realized how much I fucked up, I honestly thought I'd destroyed any chance at a relationship. I mean you left that day thinking that I didn't love you **at all**. Then you forgave me, but you had settled down... I thought I'd missed my chance. Even with him gone... I wondered if you might have fallen out of love with me... or if you might still feel loyal to him or aren't ready for another relationship... and I'm ok with that... your friendship means more to me than anything and if that's all you want us to be right now, then I'm fine with that."  


Keith holds Shiro face in his right hand as he makes Shiro look at him.  


"I did and still do love him fiercely..."  


He kisses Shiro so tenderly that it steals his breath.

"But I never stopped loving you... I just accepted you'd never love me back."

A tear rolls down Shiro's face at that. He doesn't deserve Keith. Not after everything he's put him through. But he won't hurt him anymore.  


"Drax knew. He always said if you confessed to me when we brought the Lions to you guys, he'd be willing to either bow out or enter a poly relationship." 

That surprises Shiro.

"Really?" 

Keith nods.

"Galra mate for life, but we also become mates with more than one person. Poly relationships are extremely common among Galra."

Keith sighs.

"I guess it didn't matter in the end." 

Shiro holds Keith's face in his right hand. 

"It does. I owe him so much for being there for you when I wasn't. I would have gladly been your second husband."

Shiro rests his forehead against Keith's.

"You deserve to have two husbands love you."  


Keith yawns and snuggles into Shiro's side.

"Please still be here when I wake up..." 

H e drifts off to sleep muttering 

"Please don't let this be a dream." 

Shiro feels his heart crack. He tearfully presses a kiss into Keith's hair and vows. 

"I will never leave you again."


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning Shiro is kissed awake by Keith. 

"Morning." 

Keith whispers when Shiro opens his eyes.

"Morning..." 

Shiro stretches. 

"We should get up. I'm pretty sure I heard the girls get up already..." 

The two quickly dress and head down to breakfast.

They're both a little nervous about telling everyone, but it turns out they didn't need to. Everyone pretty much figures it out. 

The only people who say anything of it are Matt and adult Romelle. 

"About goddamn time!" Matt tells them. "Swear to God you two are dense as bricks."

Romelle congratulates them and gives Shiro an impressive shovel talk he takes in stride. 

The only one on the ship who doesn't like it is Allie.

~

A few days later, they arrive within sight of the quantum abyss.

"Now what?" Hunk asks. 

"The good news is the place we want is actually on the edge of the abyss, not in it," Keith begins.

"And the bad news?" Lance asks. 

"The Phoenix has to stay here. Even on the edge of the abyss, we will still be subjected to the effects of it. Only the Voltron Paladins will go. Also, Mom, the girls won't like it but they have to stay here with you." 

"Agreed. It's too dangerous."

Keith's daughters put up a little more protest. 

Keith calmly gets down on his daughters' level. 

"My hearts, listen to me. The environment in and around the quantum abyss is chaotic and time there is unstable. Even on the edge, we'll be getting glimpses of both past and future. There are things in Daddy's past that you're too young to see. I know you're afraid, but Daddy really needs you to stay here to protect Gramma. Please." 

All three girls nod. 

Keith hugs them all tight. 

"I'll be back as soon as I can."

As Keith hugs his mom, Shiro hears them whisper to each other.

"Don't let them out of your sight until we're gone. They _**will** _try to sneak aboard anyway..." 

"Their father and grandmother _**are** _both spies..." 

The Paladins quickly go down to the Lion hanger.

They're about to take off when Keith stops them. 

"Everyone, run a bio scan of your Lions for me."

Two tics later Shiro hears Pidge, Lance, and Hunk over the coms.

"I have a stowaway..." 

"Me too."

"Same." 

Keith has Kosmo teleport them out to where his mom is standing. 

All three of girls have pouts as the Lions take off.

"How'd you know they were there?" Shiro hears Lance ask. 

Keith laughs.

"I know my daughters, Lance."

"How'd they even get in our Lions?" Hunk asks. 

"Yeah, I mean Red I understand kinda because he was yours at one point but Green and Yellow?"

"Green and Yellow like Romelle and Katie respectively. Romelle made an upgrade to Green's cloaking system when she reverse engineered the one for the Phoenix and Katie likes to sit and talk to Yellow in the hanger. Red let Allura fly him a few times." 

"Hey, who knows. Maybe they'll inherit our Lions one day," Hunk suggests.

They quickly form Voltron and head for a planet on the edge of the abyss. 

"Paladins, we're within range of the solar flares. Stay alert." 

"Copy." 

Shiro feels a thrill of pride at how easily Keith is leading them.

They're hit by their first flare not long after.

~ 

_ Shiro sees Keith kneeling before Kolivan and Krolia as he's promoted to Senior Blade and made Leader of the Blades. Krolia proudly helps him put on the cowl. _

_ Kneeling next to Keith is the Galra from Keith's family picture. He's a large, bulky Galra the size of Kolivan with similar hair and eyes, only he's purple with red face markings and a more human nose. On his hip is a Marmora blade shaped like a falchion.  _

_ This must be Drax.  _

_ He's very handsome. _

_ Drax approaches Keith.  _

_ "Keith, was it?"  _

_ Keith turns to him.  _

_ "That's me. Drax, right?"  _

_ The two shake. _

_ "I hope you don't have any hard feelings about me being made leader despite you being a Blade longer."  _

_ Drax gives him a smile. _

_ "You can give me orders all day long, Commander."  _

_ Keith coughs to hide his blush from the flirt. _

_ "You're a charmer, I see."  _

_ "Only when I see someone I find interesting. Why don't we go grab some drinks and get to know each other better?"  _

_ Keith smiles. _

_ "I'd like that." _

~ 

The flashback fades as quickly as it comes.

"Was that who I think it is?" Hunk asks.

"That was the day I met Drax, the girls' other father."

"When was that?" Pidge asks.

"Right around Shiro's wedding." 

"Is that when you started dating?" Lance asks.

"No, that was just the day we first met. We became friends first. We didn't start dating until right after the Lions left."

The next solar flare hits moments later. 

~ 

_ Keith is on a training deck with Drax training some younger Blades. They finish and dismiss the younger Blades. They're about to leave when a Blade older than Keith and Drax approaches them with a look that immediately makes Shiro hate him. _

_ "Commander Keith."  _

_ Keith turns. _

_ "Can I help you Thrask?" _

_ "I heard a rumor you're half human." _

_ Keith doesn't flinch. _

_ "Its more than a rumor. Its true. My father was a human and my mother was a Blade before she retired." _

_ "So what makes you special?"  _

_ Keith raises an eyebrow at him.  _

_ "Come again?"  _

_ "I've been a Blade longer than you, one of the only surviving Blade who wasn't dumb enough to be lured in and killed by Macidus and the other druids..." _

_ Keith narrows his eyes at the last comment but doesn't say anything. _

_ "Yet Kolivan names a half-bred whelp barely off the teat leader without him earning it." _

_ "Thrask, if you've heard stories about the Commander being half human, than you also heard the stories about him being a Paladin of Voltron as well as the leader of Voltron," Drax says. "The Paladins ended the 10,000 Year War."  _

_ "My understanding is Princess Allura did that." _

_ Keith glares at the Blade before him.  _

_ "Choose your next words carefully, Thrask. You will not dishonor the Princess' sacrifice by turning it into a weapon."  _

_ Thrask scoffs. _

_ "The **half-breed** dares to lecture me of honor? I challenge you as leader. If you were indeed a man of honor, you'd accept and answer the charges." _

_ "Thrask, you speak of honor while behaving like a spoiled, petulant child that didn't get his way?"  _

_ Now Shiro really likes Drax. _

_ Keith gestures to the other Senior Blade. _

_ "Drax."  _

_ Drax backs off. _

_ Keith is calm as he looks at Thrask.  _

_ "Very well, Thrask. I accept your challange."  _

_ The two stand across from each other with their Blades awakened at their sides.  _

_ On Drax's mark, the two begin to fight.  _

_ The fight is a tough one. The two are fairly evenly matched. Keith is a skilled fighter but Thrask has age and experience on his side so the fight lasts a while. Its lasting a lot longer than it looks like Thrask was expecting; judging from his expression.  _

_ Then Shiro sees Thrask pin Keith on his back and he knows what's about to happen before it does. _

_ "Yield, Commander! You and I both know I'm the better..." _

_ There's a tremendous yell before Thrask is sent flying across the room with a single kick; sword landing near Keith.  _

_ Keith rolls onto his feet as Thrask lands with a grunt. Keith picks up Thrask's sword and stands over him. Thrask looks up into the coldest yellow eyes he's ever seen.  _

_ "Go ahead," he spits. _

_ Keith raises Thrask's blade, but instead of killing him, drives it into the floor just barely missing Thrask's head.  _

_ "Killing you would be a complete waste of your skills and experience as a Blade and fighter. We're done here."  
_

_ As Keith walks away, Thrask growls. _

_ He grabs his Blade and charges Keith.  _

_ "I knew you were too weak to lead!" _

_ Keith turns and runs his Blade straight through the other Galra's chest. He glares into the surprised eyes of the older Galra.  
_

_ "Mercy is NEVER a weakness. It separates true leaders from tyrants." _

_ Keith pulls his Blade from Thrask's body and watches him slump to the floor. Breathing heavily, he looks at the other older Blades.  _

_ "Will anyone else attempt to fill his shoes?"  _

_ They shake their heads.  _

_ "Good."  _

_ Keith heads for the locker room. _

_ Keith takes two steps toward the lockers and drops to his knees in front of them; finally succumbing to the panic attack Shiro could tell he was resisting since he kicked Thrask off him.  _

_ The door opens. _

_ It’s Drax. _

_ "Hey, Boss! Nice moves out...”  _

_ Drax immediately stops when he sees Keith having a panic attack. Drax then walks over and starts talking Keith through the panic attack.  _

_ When the attack passes, Drax sits beside Keith on the floor. _

_ “That had nothing to do with you having to kill Thrask, did it? ‘Cause he definitely had that coming.” _

_ Keith shakes his head.  _

_ “I mean... I didn’t like having to kill him... it was a waste of skill... no he triggered my ptsd from the war.” _

_ Drax nods acceptingly.  
_

_ "Everyone likes to talk about how the Paladins saved the universe. No one talks about what it cost to do it.”  _

_ “More than you know.”  _

_ Drax looks at Keith.  _

_ “Want to talk? I’m willing to listen.”  _

_ Keith sighs. _

_ “Not really.”  _

_ “Alright. I’ll respect that. If you ever change your mind, I’m right down the corridor.”  _

_ They fall silent for a moment.  _

_ “Want to spar with me sometime?”  _

_ Keith gives him a funny look.  _

_ “You just saw me kick a guy clear across a room and you still want to spar?” _

_ Shiro facepalms. Matt's right. They both are dense as bricks. _

_ “You can throw be across the room anytime.”  _

_ That time Keith caught the intent. _

_ “Your flirting with me; aren’t you?”  _

_ Drax laughs. _

_ "Actually, I’ve been flirting with you for the last three phoebs but it’s like flirting with a brick." _

_ Keith sighs an apology. _

_ "I wouldn't know someone is hitting on me if they used a hammer..."  _

_ Drax laughs again. _

_ "I noticed. Good thing I'm patient and you're cute."  _

_ Keith blushes and gives Drax a playful shove as the flashback fades. _

~

"Why did that Thrask guy call you a whelp?" Pidge asks.

"Average Galra lifespan is about 300 years; give or take a few years. By Galra standards, having me; a twenty-three year old at the time; be named Blade Leader would be like one of my daughters being named Admiral at the Garrison."

"Now I'm picturing Katie wearing Shiro's admiral uniform," Hunk comments.

The 5 of them all pause a moment to give the adorableness of that mental image the time and attention it deserves.

They're approaching the place they're going when they're hit by another one .

~

_ Keith wakes up in a cold sweat one night.  _

_ Drax sits up beside him; awakened by Keith's movement. Both men are shirtless and have clearly been living together for some time if the decor of the room they're in is any indication. _

_ Drax rubs Keith's back like this is a common occurrence. _

_ "Nightmares?"  _

_ Keith shakes his head no. _

_ "Vision... Somethings... calling me... I can't explain it..." _

_ "Calling you where?"  _

_ Keith makes a vague gesture to a star map tacked to the wall.  _

_ "It feels like... when I was looking for Blue... only different..."  _

_ There's a time skip and  Keith is on the training deck pounding angrily at a punching bag._

_ Drax approaches him.  _

_ "Keith?" _

_ Caught off guard, Keith swings at Drax who catches it in his hand. _

_ "I'm guessing getting the other Paladins didn't go well."  _

_ Keith turns back to the punching bag and punches it again. _

_ "I can't believe everyone thinks I'm crazy! Even Shiro does!  I mean, I always knew they meant more to me than I did to them but..." _

_ Keith's face falls. _

_ "I should have known no one would believe me... why would they? I'm the unreliable one, after all; right?"  _

_ Shiro's heart hurts as Keith's face falls. _

_ "Maybe don't write them off so quickly," Drax tells him. "Grief makes people say and do things that don't make any sense. Give it time, Keith. You guys have a bond stronger than anything in this universe. It'll take more than one argument to break that bond."  _

_ Keith sighs.  _

_ "No offense, Drax, but you're full of shit."  _

_ Drax just nods acceptingly.  _

_ "I understand why you feel that way."  
_

_ Keith looks at him guiltily.  _

_ "I'm sorry... I know you're trying to help..."  _

_ Drax pulls Keith into his arms.  _

_ " I knew you were a fireball when I started dating you." _

_ He kisses Keith then. _

_ "Its one of the many things I love about you." _

_ "Most people hate that side of me, except for maybe Mom. I'm never allowed to be myself anywhere." _

_ Drax captures Keith's lips again tenderly.  _

_"I love you, Keith.  You can always be yourself with me. " _

_ Keith whimpers and captures Drax's lips with his own.  _

_ The kiss quickly grows passionate as Drax sweeps Keith off his feet and carries him out the door.  
_

_ There's another time skip and now Keith, Drax, and Keith's mom are holding three sleeping infants. _

_ "They're beautiful, Keith."  _

_ "Thanks, Mom."  _

_ "Any ideas for names." _

_ "I leave that to you two," Drax says amiably. "Krolia and Romelle are some of the only female names I know." _

_ "How about Katie for the runt, Romelle for the middle one, and Allura for the larger one?" Keith suggests. _

_ "I know Romelle and Allura, but who's Katie?" Drax asks.  _

_ "'Katie' is Pidge's birth name. Pidge is actually a nickname... kinda... its complicated. Only her family and the Paladins can call her Katie without getting punched though, so... yeah... don't ever call her Katie." _

_The flashback ends then._

~

"I wish we could have met him..." Pidge admits tearfully. 

"Seriously, if for no other reason than to thank him," Lance adds.

"He was there for you when we should have been," Hunk concludes. 

"I already forgave you, guys."

"That doesn't erase the guilt we feel about it or how much it hurt you Keith," Shiro tells him. "None of us even _tried_ to reach out to you. Even if you hadn't answered, it still would have shown we cared."

They land the Lions in a circle on top of an odd structure shaped like a ziggurat.

"Where to now?" Hunk asks. 

"I... think I need to sit in the center of the circle of Lions and focus." 

As Keith moves to the center of the circle, they're hit with another solar flare.

~

_ Keith and Drax are fighting Galra sentries with the symbol of the Soldiers of Zarkon on them. Keith and Drax are pinned down and its starting to look bad when out of nowhere, the sentries are hit with a tail laser. _

_ Keith looks up in wonder as Red lands over top of them with a roar. _

_ "Good kitty..."  _

_ Red then incinerates the Soldiers of Zarkon running toward them. _

_ "The Red Lion..."  _

_ Drax breathes as he and Keith walk around to stand in front of Red. _

_ Red bends down to let Keith put his hand on Red's nose. _

_ The moment he does, an image of Allura flashes in his mind; making him step back. _

_ "Allura... that's whose been calling me!" _

_ Drax looks at Keith.  _

_ "The princess?"  _

_ Keith raises an eyebrow at Drax. _

_ "No, our daughter."  _

_ Drax snorts. _

_ "Touche'."  
_

_ "I think I'm supposed to gather the Lions and try to find her." _

_ "Shouldn't we tell your friends? I mean, the Red Lion returning is kinda proof you were right."  _

_ Keith shakes his head. _

_ "What if they still don't believe me? No, I'll get them after I find Blue." _

_ The flashback moves to the Planet Naiade where Queen Luxia's kingdom is where they find the Blue Lion.  _

_ "After I find the Black Lion," Keith says. "Black's teleport can get us to Earth faster."  _

_ Drax gives him a teasing look. _

_ "Did Phoenix's wormhole engine suddenly stop working?" _

_ Keith blushes, knowing Drax is onto his bullshit.  _

_ Even still, the flashback skips to Arus where they find the Black Lion.  _

_ "Should we wait until we find Yellow and Green too?" Drax teases.  _

_ "Ok, so I'm avoiding facing them." _

_ "Good job admitting it to yourself." _

_ "What if they still don't believe me? What if they get mad at me for not telling them sooner? What if..."  _

_ Drax pulls him into a kiss.  _

_"First of all, if any of them dares to get mad at you, I'll rip them a new asshole because you asked them to come along and they chose not to.  Second of all, its entirely up to you when you want to tell them about this." _

_ Shiro smiles at that. Drax was so good to Keith. If either of them deserved Keith's love, its Drax.  _

_ Keith sighs.  _

_ "After we find Yellow and Green. Though there **is** someone we can clue in." _

_ The flashback fades. _

~

"That's when you told Matt isn't it?" Pidge asks.

Keith nods silently as he sits down.

"You were afraid to tell us, even after you found 3 of the 5 Lions," Hunk asks sadly.

"Honestly I think I just wasn't ready to face you guys again. Particularly..."

He doesn't have to say his name. Shiro knows it was him Keith was especially afraid to face. 

Keith sits cross-legged on the ground and closes his eyes to focus.

When he does, they're hit by another solar flare. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When Keith goes all glowy, picture when Captain Marvel glows as she breaks free from her binding.

_Keith and Drax are hugging their 3 year old daughters and Krolia good-bye as they're about to leave for a mission._

_"Oh no..." Shiro breathes when he sees Keith looks about 3.5 months pregnant. He knows what's about to happen._

_"Are you sure you don't want to bring Kolivan or one of the Lions with you?" Krolia asks Keith worriedly._

_"I'll be fine, Mom. Its not the first relief mission I've gone on while pregnant."_

_There's another time skip after they leave on a shuttle to them distributing supplies on the moon of a planet. _

_Suddenly a Hands of Haggar ship appears as the people they're helping draw weapons with Soldiers of Zarkon symbols._

_Drax tackles Keith behind some crates as the ones with guns open fire. The Blades with them who aren't killed by the blasters are quickly cut down by swords._

_They draw their weapons._

_"Quiznak! They've teamed up!" Drax exclaims._

_"We have to get to the ship!"_

_He and Keith share a look that breaks Shiro's heart._

_Drax presses a kiss into Keith's forehead before resting their foreheads against each other._

_"I love you."_

_"I love you, too."_

_The two of them make for their ship, cutting and slicing their way through the soldiers and druids. They're halfway to their shuttle with Keith sporting a new cut on his cheek when a blast from the ship sends them flying._

_Keith cries out in pain when he lands and clutches his stomach._

_"Keith!"_

_Drax is at Keith's side in an instant._

_"The boys! Something's wrong!"_

_Drax pulls Keith's arm over his shoulder and tries to get them to their shuttle they're using when a shot from the Druid ship destroys it._

_"We're trapped!"_

_A druid appears before them. Then another appears beside it. As they both raise their arms, Drax shoves Keith out of the way right before he's hit with quintessence._

_"DRAX!"_

_Drax is thrown backward and tumbles across the ground with a grunt. Keith crawls to his partner._

_"Drax!"_

_The other Galra groans as he picks himself up._

_"I'm ok."_

_The two druids close in as two Galra soldiers join them._

_"A pity we could not capture you with your unborn children," one of the druids says. " We would have loved to experiment with them too."_

_"We'll settle for the Paladin."_

_Drax growls._

_"What do you want with him?!"_

_"He is a freak of nature! An abomination!"_

_"We wish to study him."_

_"We just want him dead," one of the two soldiers concludes._

_Keith cries out in pain again as he clutches his stomach. Shiro can see blood starting to soak through Keith's Blade armor. Shiro sees Drax make a quick decision and stagger to his feet between Keith and the four assailants._

_"You're not going to lay a finger on him."_

_Drax draws his Blade._

_"Not while I draw breath."_

_Shiro can see the tears of pain and anguish in Keith's eyes._

_"Drax..."_

_Drax looks at him with so much love that tears start rolling down Shiro's face because he knows what's going to happen._

_"I love you, Keith."_

_Shiro desperately wants this flashback to end. He doesn't want to watch this._

_But, it doesn't end._

_Shiro watches as Drax fights off the druids and soldiers with a sense of impending doom; even when Drax looks like he's doing well. When he sees the Soldier come up behind Drax and find an opening with his sword, Shiro turns away._

_Drax falls._

_The soldier laughs as he throws Drax's body to where Keith sits on the ground with blood around him. There are tears in Keith's eyes as he holds Drax in his arms while the druids and soldiers circle him like vultures._

_"Don't worry, you'll be joining him soon enough."_

_They laugh and Shiro sees murder in Keith's eyes._

_Then, something odd happens. Keith starts to glow like a fiery star. Before Shiro could think, Keith yells in anguish and fiery energy bursts from him and incinerates both druids and soldiers._

_As quickly as it began, it disappears._

_Exhausted, Keith collapses against Drax. He's breathing heavily as he watches a Soldiers ship move over him and charge its ion cannon. Keith just closes his eyes and calmly waits as it fires._

_The Yellow Lion bursts up from the ground of the rocky planet at the last second and takes the blast._

_Keith looks up at the Lion._

_"Yellow?"_

_At that moment, the ship is hit by beams of fire and ice._

_Shiro and Keith both look and see the Black Lion with his wings extended with Red and Blue on either side of him._

_"Black? Red? Blue?"_

_Black and Red attack the ship while Blue attacks the soldiers and druids still on the ground as Yellow continues to shield Keith; trusting the other Lions to handle the fighting. Yellow opens his jaw so Keith can drag Drax's body inside. Once they're inside, Yellow immediately closes his jaw before turning to help Blue._

_By the time the fight ends, not one attacker is left to tell the tale._

_The flashback ends as the four Lions leave with Keith._

~

Tears are rolling down all their faces as they look at the Lions who came to Keith's aid in his darkest hour.

No one speaks but they don’t have to.

Shiro looks down at Keith sitting on the floor as the 5 Lions start to glow their Lion colors. Soon after, Keith begins to glow like a fiery star again. Suddenly the grooves in the floor of the ziggurat start to glow with the colors of the Lions and Keith until it forms a picture.

"Can anyone tell what its supposed to be?" Lance asks.

"I think we're supposed to look at it from above," Hunk says.

Pidge takes to the air.

"I think its some kind of ancient starmap," she says.

The lights from Keith and the 5 Lions joins around one spot.

"I think I need more time to analyze it." Pidge says.

"Take a picture for later. Keith's wearing out."

Shiro tells her from his spot beside Keith. 

She takes several then lands right as the lights stop.

Shiro catches Keith as he sways to the side.

“Easy...”

“You ok, Man?”

Keith nods as Shiro holds him in his arms.

“Just need a quick nap...”

Keith quickly closes his eyes and falls asleep.

As Keith sleeps in Shiro’s arms, they get hit with another solar flare.

~

_Keith is in the hospital recovering from the attack and miscarriage. The entire time, he refuses to let his daughters see him._

_“I don’t want them to see me like this. They're 3. They just lost one dad. They don't need to see their remaining dad looking beat up making their nightmares worse."_

_"Keith, they're worried about you. They want to see you," Romelle tells him gently._

_"What they want and what's best for them are two different things."_

_"How do you know they even have nightmares? None of them saw either of you when you were brought in," Romelle asks._

_"Trust me, they don't need to actually see the damage to have nightmares about what happened. I have nightmares to this day about my Pop dying in a house-fire. Never even saw his body. Trauma is still trauma and children, particularly young children, have very good imaginations that can be both a blessing and a curse."_

_There's another time skip and Keith is out of the hospital but still in rehab._

_He throws something against the wall._

_"Damn it! I'm tired of being stuck in a goddamn bed! I need to take care of my kids!"_

_Krolia is sympathetic._

_"You need to let your body heal, Keith."_

_"I wonder if Pop felt like this when he had to take care of me as a baby with a hurt shoulder."_

_"Your father wasn't mourning the loss of a mate..."_

_"He may as well have!"_

_Shiro can tell Keith immediately regrets snapping at Krolia._

_Keith looks at his lap._

_"Sorry..."_

_"Why? You're right." Krolia tells him guiltily. "Up until recently, that was all you knew of me."_

_"And you've apologized for it numerous times and I forgave you for it each time."_

_"Forgiving someone does not magically erase what happened or your memory of it."_

_"Still, you're trying to help me and its not fair to dig it up and throw it in your face..."_

_"None of this is fair," Krolia tells him. "It isn't fair I missed so much of your life or that your father died or that you ended up alone. It isn't fair that you had to bury a mate and now have to raise your daughters without him. None of this is fair."_

_Krolia takes Keith's hands in her own._

_"You have something your father didn't. You have me and you have help. I will do everything I can to help you raise your girls, Keith."_

_Keith hugs Krolia._

_"I'm sorry I was being an ass..."_

_"You're allowed to be angry at this Keith."_

_"But I'm not allowed to use it to hurt people."_

_Krolia kisses Keith's forehead._

_"I love you, Keith. Fire and all."_

_The flashback jumps to Keith seeing his daughters for the first time since and holding them tight. They then see Keith throw himself into helping his girls mourn and taking care of them; sometimes at the exclusion of his own needs._

_They see him and the girls finally finding the Green Lion right before the flashback ends._

~

"I understand now why Yellow is willing to let Keith fly him," Hunk says with tears rolling down his face. "Keith has the strongest heart and spirit out of all of us. Everything he's been through and he's still here."

"Even diamonds have a breaking point though," Pidge points out. "How much more can one person go through before they break?"

All conversation stops when Keith stirs.

He blinks his eyes open.

"Feeling better?" Shiro asks him.

Keith nods as he sits up and rubs his eyes.

As they're heading back to the Phoenix in their Lions, they're hit with another solar flare.

~

_They see Keith burning with the intensity of a star, they see Lance and Coran hugging a living breathing Allura, and finally they see Keith laying lifeless in what looks like Shiro's arms as the image fades._

~

"What the quiznak was that?!" Pidge asks.

"The quantum abyss warps the fabric of reality and space time. That's how Mom and I were able to have two years pass while you guys only had about 2 months pass," Keith explains. "Sometimes it shows you the past, sometimes the future, sometimes multiple futures, and sometimes things that are glimpses of other realities. Its hard to know if that was a future, the future, or another reality."

As if on cue, another solar flare hits them.

~

_They see specific moments during the war that happen differently._

_They see Lotor arriving late at the battle at Naxela but the shield being taken out anyway by an explosion that was Keith in a Galra fighter ramming it. The coalition is saved, but at the cost of Keith's life._

_They see several different versions of Shiro and Keith's fight with one another; some where Shiro kills Keith, some where its Keith that's being mind controlled. The only ones where Keith kills Shiro is where he's the one being mind controlled._

_They see every single moment of the war where Keith almost died and what would have happened if he had; including the incident where Zethrid tried to kill Keith._

_Then they see Keith stopping Allura from sacrificing her life by sacrificing his instead._

_Finally, they see one last image before it fades._

_They see Krolia dying from a Galra illness._

~

"Which one was that last one?!" Lance asks frantically.

"God I wish I knew Lance," Keith tells him. "But it has some truth to it."

"What do you mean?" Shiro asks.

"The Galra have some illnesses that effect only us. One of them is our equivalent to a brain tumor, another is major organ failure, and another is quintessence poisoning, which is basically our equivalent of cancer. Those are the only three illnesses with no known cure for them known, only 2 of them have a way to prolong the person's life. It'd be just my luck Mom comes down with one. I can't buy a break on discount."

"No. Not happening! If that was the future, we have time to change it!"

"Pidge..."

"She's right, Keith. Maybe there isn't a known cure on Daibazaal, but maybe there's one on Earth or New Altea," Hunk tells him.

"You guys are serious?"

He sounds so unsure, it breaks Shiro's heart.

"You've been through enough! You've lost enough!" Pidge rants furiously. "The universe can quiznak itself!"

"We're not letting this happen without a fight," Lance insists.

"What if you don't succeed?"

"Its better to fail than if you don't try, Keith," Hunk tells him.

"Its like my dad always says; if you spend too much time worrying about what could go wrong, you might miss the chance to do something great. There has to be something in this universe that can cure Krolia if she comes down with one."

~

They get back and look over the pictures Pidge took of the ancient starmap. 

"These are definitely coordinates," Pidge states. 

"So lets plug them into Phoenix's starmap and see where it is," Lance says.

Keith brings it up on the starmap and the coordinates lead to a part of the universe none of them have been before. 

"How far is that from here?" Shiro asks.

"Far." Keith tells him. "We'd have to use the same method to get out there that we used to get here. Given our luck, it'll take almost 3 phoebs to get out there. Unfortunately, there's a problem." 

"Let me guess," Shiro deadpans. "The Children of the Empire's base or some shit is out that way."

"Yep."  


"We're going to have to fight them head-on at some point, aren't we?" Lance asks. 

"I can almost guarantee it." 

"Just another day at the office," Pidge states. 

"So how do we do this? I mean, we usually have numbers," Hunk points out. 

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there.  Right now lets make the first jump."

"Don't we need to let the wormhole engine rest for a week?" Pidge asks.

"You were gone for just under a movement," Krolia tells her. 

Shiro and the other human Paladins gawk. 

"We were only gone for 5 hours!!" Hunk says.

"Quantum Abyss," Keith tells them. "Now you see why we had to be careful." 

They make the first wormhole jump that day. 

Immediately after Shiro and the Paladins tell Krolia what they saw in the abyss. 

Krolia doesn't look surprised.

"This isn't how I wished to tell you, Keith... but half of that is already true." 

Keith stares at her. 

"You're sick?" 

She nods. 

"I found out right before I left Daibazaal. I've been trying to come to terms with it myself."

"I understand," Keith tells her. "I'm still pissed but I get it. Can't say I'm surprised." 

"So what's the illness?" Pidge asks. 

"Quintessence poisoning," she tells them.  


"Keith said its the equivalent of our cancer?"

"It is."

"Does it effect a specific organ the way cancer does?"

"It is in my liver and my heart."

"Wait, can't you just get a transplant?" Hunk asks.

"Galra livers don't regenerate the way human livers do," Keith explains. "I don't even know if mine does. Both organs would have to be an exact match from someone who is already dead." 

They all think for a moment before Pidge lights up.

"What if we cloned the healthy cells of your heart and liver?" 

They all blink. 

"Is that possible?" Keith asks. "I didn't think Earth had that kind of technology." 

"Technically it doesn't," Pidge tells him. "I on the other hand..." 

"How?"

Pidge looks apologetically at Shiro. 

"Please forgive me, but I kinda ran an analysis of your cloned body and compared it to the one from your... original body..."

Shiro raises an eyebrow. 

"Why? I mean, I trust you but why?"

"Because as fucked up as it is, Haggar managed to make actual working clones of you. But in order to do that, she had to successfully clone human organs. Can you imagine what cloning an organ like that would do for medical science? So Dad and I studied your cloned body to reverse engineer a way to clone organs." 

"Did you succeed?" Shiro asks. 

"With human organs, yes. Never done it for an alien's organ before but I imagine its the same process with different cells."  


She looks at Keith.

"My point is there's hope! We have a fighting chance of saving your mom, Keith!"

Shiro can tell Keith isn't convinced and he honestly can't blame him. 

"I appreciate the idea Pidge, but I've kinda learned not to hope."

Keith heads down to a lower deck before anyone can say anything.

Krolia leaves too, leaving only the four humans in the lounge outside their quarters. 

"Hey guys, I just thought of something?" Hunk says. "You know how we all had the vision of a lifeless Keith?" 

They nod.

"Whenever Keith does that glowy Captain Marvel thing he's been doing, it seems to take a lot out of him. What if he has to use it in order to save Allura? I mean, we all saw what he's willing to do for us; even when we don't deserve it. What if he has to die to bring her back?"

Shiro answer is immediate. 

"We don't let him." 

The others look at him. 

"It was a mistake to let Allura sacrifice her life to save everything. I'm not making that mistake twice."

"Will we even have the choice though?" Lance asks.

Shiro finds Keith standing in his quarters silently looking out the windows into space after his daughters have gone to bed that night.  Shiro wraps his arms around Keith's shoulders and holds him. 

Neither of them speaks. 

They don't have to.

With the quietest voice he's ever heard from Keith, he hears...

"Why does everyone I love die?" 

Shiro's heart breaks as he just holds Keith.  When he hears a sniffle and feels drops of water fall on his arm, he holds Keith tighter.

All he can think is how unfair all of this is. 

Keith gives and he gives and he gives and all the universe does is take from him while having the audacity to call him selfish.

How much more can Keith give before he breaks? Like Pidge said; even diamonds have a breaking point.

Shiro fights his own tears as he lets Keith cry; determined to stay strong for Keith, to finally act like the best friend he always claimed to be. Keith has always been there for him, to pick him up, to protect him, to comfort him, and until now Shiro has done nothing but let Keith down.

Keith cries himself out and leans listless in Shiro's arms. When Shiro sweeps Keith into his arms bridal style, Keith lets him; resting his head on Shiro's shoulder. Shiro carries Keith into the younger man's bedroom and lays him in the bed. He quickly changes for bed before climbing in next to him. 

After turning off the light and removing his prosthetic, Shiro pulls Keith against him with his remaining arm and holds him as they both drift off to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Two weeks go by and even though Keith acts fine, Shiro can tell his morale is low. He does his job like he's supposed to and when they get into skirmishes with the Children of the Empire, he leads Voltron like he should but Shiro can't help but wonder if he's putting all his energy that isn't used parenting his daughters into leading and just ignoring everything else. 

At the end of the two weeks, Shiro returns to the lounge to see Keith's 3 girls moving some of their stuff into Krolia's quarters.

"What's going on?" Shiro asks. 

"Oh, Papa won't be able to take care of us for the next week so we're staying with Gramma for a while?" Romelle tells him casually. 

"Why?" 

"Papa's going into heat!" 

Shiro blinks. 

"Wait, what?"

"I've got this girls."

Matt takes Shiro into the quarters Shiro rarely uses since he frequently stays in Keith's quarters. 

"Keith explained how Galra genders work right and how he's what's called an Omega, right?" 

Shiro nods.

"Well, Omegas and female Betas are subject to what are called heats. For an Omega like Keith, its a span of a week where he's REALLY fertile. For a full blooded Galra, it happens every month unless you use suppressors. Those of mixed heritage tend to have them a little more spaced out."

"How often do Keith's occur?" 

"Basically, every solstice and equinox like clockwork."

"Is there anything I can do?" 

"Honestly, just be with him. Contrary to what you may think, its not just about sex and reproducing. Something about bonding. Also, my understanding is it feels miserable. Having a partner there with you helps. "

Shiro goes into Keith's quarters to find Keith has removed all the cushions off the couches in his lounge.  


He enters Keith's bedroom to find the couch cushions bordering the bed which now has all kinds of pillows, blankets, and fluffy towels in the middle of it like a nest. There's only a small opening in the cushions to get in or out of the nest. Keith is laying stark naked in the middle of some towels when Shiro comes in. Shiro can hear faint whimpers as Keith lays in the nest panting.  


Shiro crawls into the nest and sees how Keith's hair is sticking to his sweaty forehead and presses the palm of his prosthetic hand against Keith's forehead.

The prosthetic must be cold because Keith all but snuggles into it as Shiro uses it to take Keith's temperature.

"You have a fever..."

"Not fever... heat..."

Shiro moves his prosthetic to Keith's cheek.

"Do you need anything?"

"There's a button on the kitchen..."

Shiro leaves his right arm in the room with Keith as he moves into the living area and presses a button that says "Heat Supplies".

It opens and there's a bowl of nonperishable snacks, several pouches of water, a small insulated container with cool rags neatly folded inside, and a double sided bowl, a one with cleaning rags neatly folded in it and one that was empty; Shiro assumes its for the used rags.

Shiro has to make a few trips since he only has one arm, but he manages. He makes a mental note to have Pidge install something in his prosthetic to keep the hand cool.

He puts everything in the nest within arms reach of Keith.

"Anything else."

"Just hold me..."

Shiro strips down to his boxers and crawls into the nest to spoon Keith from behind. 

Keith immediately stops panting but he's still whimpering.

"Can't believe I let this sneak up on me..."

Shiro holds him tighter.

"Shhh... you've had a lot on your mind... Its ok..."

They lapse into silence for a while as Shiro thinks of something to say. Then he remembers something.

"Matt said you get these four times a year, right?"

Keith nods.

"I started getting them when I was 13, if that was going to be your next question, though they didn't really become a regular thing until I was with Mom on the Space Whale. Mom guesses that since human puberty and Galra puberty happen at different ages, when my human genetics started going through puberty at 13 it triggered my Galra genetics to begin a heat cycle. But because I hadn't hit Galra puberty yet, it wasn't as frequent so it would only happen once a year."

"When does Galra puberty start?"

"Between 20 and 24."

"Geez, no wonder Thrask got pissy about you being made Leader over him. That'd be like a 10-16 year old being named an admiral."

"Pretty sure Pidge would have claimed that one if Garrison Command hadn't stopped halting her projects with bullshit protocols..."

They both laugh a little until Keith is cut off with a whimper.

Shiro looks down at Keith.

"Now that I think of it, something similar happened during your first year at the Garrison. You mysteriously had a really high fever for no apparent reason. I think you were in Garrison's hospital for about a week. They ran every kind of test known but couldn't figure out what was causing your fever. Then it disappeared as quickly as it came."

Keith nods.

"That was one of my "human heats"."

"Matt says they feel miserable."

"They aren't supposed to be..."

"What do you mean?"

Keith sighs.

"Drax and Mom and pretty much every Galra I've mentioned it to has told me they aren't supposed to feel miserable. The moments between heatwaves are supposed to be restful and relaxing."

"So... why aren't yours?"

"Drax had a theory that's as best an explanation as I'll likely ever get. He told me that when Galra young go through a heat or a rut for the first time, their parents, caregivers, packmates, or even litter-mates are supposed to snuggle with them for comfort. At that age, its more about bonding than anything. After the fall of Daibazaal and the start of the 10,000 Year War, such things were frowned upon. When Galra young were my daughters' age they would begin what was pretty much boot camp. When they would get their first heat or rut, they'd be given a room with snacks and such and that was it. He said after that when Galra are isolated like that during their heats and ruts, it causes the same kind of damage being raped or molested would cause. It also makes them become either extremely docile or overly aggressive and violent with a hair trigger temper, which he thinks is what Zarkon was aiming for."

Shiro gasps.

"That was my reaction when Drax told me that part. Anyway, Drax theorized that because I started having my heats at a time where I was largely alone and isolated, it caused damage. When I wasn't alone anymore, my emotions improved, but my heat cycle stayed damaged. They were actually getting better too for a while... having a stable partner... or in Drax's case, an alpha, there when you go through heat makes it easier to bare... then  Drax was killed... Now they're wor-..."

He cuts himself off with a whine as he starts to squirm and pant more.

"What's happening now?" Shiro asks, sounding calmer than he feels.

"Minor Heatwave... about to start..."

Shiro experimentally puts one of his thighs between Keith's legs and Keith immediately starts grinding himself on it.

Shiro feels desire coil in his stomach at the sight.

He leans in close until his mouth is right next to Keith's ear.

"Lets see what I can do about that then..."

Keith seems to perk up at Shiro tone.

Shiro keeps his thigh where it is as he slides his left hand across the skin on Keith's abs and is immediately met with a whimper and moan from Keith.

"Sh...Shiro?"

Something in Keith's whine ignites a fire in Shiro.

"Sh... Its ok, Baby... I've got you..." 

He nibbles Keith's ear after he speaks.  


His hand travels further down Keith's abs toward his dick, making Keith squirm and whimper more the closer Shiro gets to it. When the hand moves toward Keith's inner thigh, just barely touching it, Keith silently gasps Shiro's name.  


"That's it, baby... that's it... I'll make you feel so good, ok? Will you let me be good to you? "

Keith nods vigorously.

Shiro rewards him by taking Keith's dick in his hand and starting to stroke it, drawing an immediate moan from him. He uses his right hand to turn Keith so he can caress the other man's lips in his own.  Shiro quickens his pace a little, making Keith moan more and more into Shiro's lips as Shiro kisses the other man over and over again.

"Sh...Shiro..."

Keith cums with a gasp. Shiro doesn't stop pumping until Keith's dick softens a little.  


"Thanks..."

Shiro kisses the younger man's shoulder.

"I love you, Keith. I'm happy to help you."

"That was just a minor one. When a big one hits, I get really needy and it will take a long time to satisfy it."

Almost as if on cue, Keith gets hit with a huge heatwave then that has his dick already hard and him rolling onto his stomach on the bed to all but humping the nest.

That's when Shiro notices the fluid leaking out between Keith's legs where his ass and omega cervix are and desire swirls in his belly at the sight.

He moves so his mouth is next to Keith's ear again.

"You say that like its a bad thing..."

Shiro slides his left hand up Keith's back, making the hybrid arch his back.

"Shiro?"

Shiro presses a kiss into Keith's shoulder as he brings himself flush against Keith's back so that they're skin to skin. His lips travel up to Keith's neck where he sucks a hickey into it.

"Can you roll back over for me, baby?"

Keith does and Shiro pulls him into a kiss that's slow and sweet like molasses. He slips his tongue into Keith's mouth as he brushes Keith's nipple with his thumb.

Keith whimpers into the kiss and opens up to Shiro.

Shiro trails his hand down Keith's body to just behind his balls where his folds were. He just barely rubs his hand over it and Keith is whimpering and whining into Shiro's mouth. He gently rubs the folds with his hand again, earning him a moan when he does.

"Please..."

Shiro pulls back to press a kiss into Keith's forehead at the whimper.

"You don't have to beg, baby.... I'll give you what you need..."

He looks down at Keith's face as he gently starts to rub the inside of the folds with his middle finger, reveling in the way Keith is writhing with pleasure from it.

"That's it, baby... that's it... you're always taking care of everyone... let me take care of you now..."

He quickens his finger while keeping it gentle and moans pour from Keith like the fluid running down his legs.

"More! Please!"

Shiro happily obliges and starts brushing Keith's clit with his thumb as he keeps the middle finger on the same hand rubbing the spot. Shiro feels Keith's body tighten beneath him and his moans become more frantic as he cums. Even when it ends, Keith's dick is still hard.

So Shiro moves his middle finger further until it's inside where he bends it to rub the little bump just inside that has Keith moaning again in seconds.

For the next hour, Shiro pleases Keith in every way he can. With fingers, with toys, with his mouth. In his omega parts, his ass, around his dick. Keith wasn't kidding when he said it would take a while to satisfy him, he's cum at least 6 times and is practically begging Shiro for more.

Keith is delirious with heat as he rolls onto his stomach and spreads his legs to him.

"Please, Alpha... breed me..."  


Keith had explained this to him after their first time. Apparently, Shiro does share a lot of physical traits that an Alpha has. He's large, bulky, and beefy and, in Keith's words, his dick is large and thick like an Alpha's should be when erect (though Shiro was quick to point out that Keith isn't exactly tiny either). So in Keith's heat addled mind, Shiro's an alpha who can give him the kind of release he craves. Up until now, Shiro's dick has gone largely ignored, though he's no less turned on.

Shiro kisses his way up Keith's back while lining his dick up with Keith's omega entrance. He turns Keith's face so that Shiro can kiss him as he pushes in with his cock in Keith's heat. He does the same with his tongue in Keith's mouth as he seats himself completely in Keith. Once Keith has adjusted, Shiro pulls out before thrusting back in. He repeats the action and slowly gets a rhythm going.

"H...harder!"

Shiro happily obliges and thrusts into him hard. Keith's moans grow louder as Shiro's own release builds.

"That's it, Baby! That's it! Let me hear you."

Keith's moans are getting faster.

"Does it feel good, Baby? Am I giving you what you need?"

Keith nods through his moans.

"Good. I love taking care of you. You're so beautiful like this. You're the strongest, most beautiful person I know. You deserve to feel this good."

Shiro's getting close and he can tell Keith is too. With a one final thrust in, Shiro cums deep inside Keith. Keith whimpers and Shiro pushes the rubber cock ring he'd put on his cock for just this reason into Keith's entrance to simulate the knot of an Alpha (the one thing Shiro can't do himself). The minute its in place, Keith cums with a loud moan.

The pair collapses onto the bed together, Shiro just off to the side so he doesn't crush Keith, panting from the exertion. Shiro doesn't pull out just yet, instead just holding Keith in his arms as they both catch their breath. Only when he watches Keith drift off to sleep does he remove the rubber ring so he can pull out. He quickly grabs a cleaning cloth from the bowl and cleans them both up with it. After throwing it in the other side of the bowl, Shiro wraps his arms around Keith again until he's spooning him from behind and drifts off to sleep.

~

The first thing Shiro notices when he wakes up is the empty space under his arms. Then he notices how quiet it is.

Shiro rubs his eyes and sits up to find Keith sitting on the edge of the nest looking stunned.

"Keith? Is everything alright?"

Keith looks at Shiro and he notices then that Keith isn't sweating anymore.

"My Heat ended."

Shiro looks at him in confusion.

"Matt said they typically last for a week."

"They do... unless..."

Keith looks down at himself and that's when Shiro notices the way he's holding his stomach.

When Keith looks up at him again, Shiro somehow knows what he's going to say before he does.

"Shiro, I'm pregnant."


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special shout out to PaladinPile for getting this fic unstuck.

"You're pregnant?! How?!"

Pidge rolls her eyes at the question.

"Well, Lance. When two people really like each other..."

"I know where babies come from, you ass!"

"Keith already explained to us he's able to carry and have babies," Pidge reminds Lance.

"Well, yeah, but I thought that was like him waiting for Kosmo to tell Keith his name."

Hunk looks at him.

"Dude, first of all, we've literally been playing with his three daughters; who look just like him I might add, and Coran even verified that Galra have different genders than humans. Second of all, it wouldn't surprise me at this point if Keith could literally understand Kosmo. Its seriously not the weirdest thing we've ever seen."

"Can you tell how many at this point?"

Keith looks at Matt.

"Two. Just like last time. Can't tell the genders yet."

"Wow, you have a lot of multiples!" Pidge comments.

"Its a Galra thing. Apparently singles like me are extremely rare. Though the average litter of kits is around 4. Mom thinks because I'm 1/2 human I have smaller litters."

"Kits?" Lance asks.

"That's what Galra young are called, isn't it?" Pidge asks.

"Yeah. You're a kit until you reach the human equivalent of 10. Then you're a whelp until you finish puberty."

"So... what are you going to do now?" Matt asks Keith.

"What do you mean 'what's he going to do'?" Lance asks.

"Well, Galra Omegas can purposefully terminate a pregnancy if they need to," Matt explains. "Its typically used in the event an Omega conceives because they were raped, but it can be used in other situations..."

"I have so many questions about how that evolved," Pidge states.

Shiro looks at Keith. So far, he's been quiet as the others talk.

"So... what are you going to do?"

Keith looks up at Shiro.

"What do you think I should do?"

"I'm not the one who has to carry them for 9 months."

"Six."

Shiro raises an eyebrow.

"Huh?"

"Galra gestation is 6 phoebs."

"Again, I have all the questions!" Pidge tells him.

Keith smiles at that before looking back at Shiro.

"It's a really bad time for me to be pregnant."

Shiro threads his fingers through Keith's.

"Keith, whatever you decide; I'll support your decision."

"We all will, man" Hunk promises. "If you chose to terminate them, we'll support and respect your decision."

"And if you choose not to, we'll support and help you every step of the way," Lance adds.

"It won't be easy if I keep them. When we reach the area where the Children's base is, I'll be heavily pregnant."

"Nothing in life ever is, Keith," Pidge tells him. "We're your team. We said we'd be here for you and we meant it."

Keith smiles at them.

"Guess the only thing left is to tell my Mom and girls."

~

The following day, Keith tells Krolia and his daughters he's pregnant again.

"Congratulations, My Star," Krolia tells him.

All three girls hug their father, but only Krolia, Romi, and Katie hug Shiro.

Allie glares while continuing to hug her father protectively.

The morning sickness hits Keith a week later.

The first day, Shiro wakes up to Keith throwing up in the toilet in his bathroom. He calmly holds Keith's hair back. After about a week, he sends Shiro to get something from his mom. When Shiro comes back, Allie is preparing a tray of food for Keith.

"Need a hand?"

"I've got it. Taking care of a pregnant Omega with morning sickness is a lot harder than taking care of one in heat."

Shiro raises an eyebrow.

"I've taken care of my fair share of pregnant people before."

Allie doesn't even look up from what she's doing.

"Watching a medic or lower officer do it isn't the same thing as doing it yourself."

Allie turns to get something else from the in-room kitchen.

"I already know you're a Garrison admiral."

Shiro leans back against the table.

"Being an admiral for the Garrison doesn't always mean I didn't work for it. Believe it or not, I was about your age when my mom was pregnant with my little brother. I took care of her while my dad worked."

Allie rolls her eyes.

"_Sure_ you were..."

"Its true."

"Then where is he now, huh? At no point has Dad ever mentioned you had a brother."

Shiro looks at her.

"That's because your dad doesn't know about him yet. Our parents died when my brother and I were both young. We were raised by my grandparents for a while, but eventually they both died and we were separated by the foster care system."

"We all have our sorrows..."

She gets up and lifts the tray easily. She stops at the door and throws over her shoulder.

"If you want to make yourself useful, there's a bucket and scrub brush under the bathroom counter. Dad's bathroom and quarters need to stay sanitized so he doesn't get sick and the waste basket needs to be emptied."

Shiro sits stunned for a few moments before doing what he's told.

When he gets back to Keith's room, Allie's already left.

He hands Keith the thing he was asked to get before heading toward the bathroom.

"Allie has me doing latrine duty," he says in amusement as he starts cleaning.

Keith laughs out loud.

"She's a spirited kid."

"She's the feistiest of my daughters, that's for sure."

"She reminds me of you actually, when we first met. You remember?"

"How can I forget? You were the first person in a long time to stick around. I was so sure you'd give up on me, but you never did."

Shiro pauses cleaning and sits on the bed with Keith.

He caresses Keith's cheek with his hand.

"And I never will."

Keith leans into the touch.

"May I ask... Matt told me Allie was pretty close with Drax. Is that why she's so threatened by me? She thinks I'm trying to replace him."

"I won't lie, its probably part of it. Unfortunately, the problem likely runs deeper than that. She's already lost one parent, Shiro. Its not so much she's afraid you'll take Drax's place. More like, she's afraid to lose me. I'm the only parent she has left. I know that fear well because I've been in her shoes. Also, keep in mind, she's 5. Its only been a year and 4 months since Drax died and now I not have another partner, but I'm also having two new kits with said partner. That's a lot of changes for a 5 year old. Plus, she and her sisters all know my job is dangerous."

"I just hope I can earn her trust in me. I don't want to lose you either."

Keith silences him by calmly scooching next to him and resting his head on Shiro's shoulder.

"Just give it time. After all, you earned mine."

Shiro smiles and presses a kiss into Keith's hair.

Keith's morning sickness lasts for the next two months and is so bad Keith pretty much has to stay in his quarters. During this time Allie pretty much has Shiro doing all the grunt work involved with taking care of Keith. Shiro changes the sheets, cleans the bathrooms, empties the garbage. He doesn't complain. He figures its like an initiation or something. He has to prove to her he's willing to take care of Keith.

One day, Shiro manages to wake up before Allie. He quickly assembles a tray of all the things he's seen her bring Keith before carrying them into the bedroom. He then gets himself breakfast and eats with Keith.

Its when month two starts that they're thrown a curve ball neither of them expected.

Keith starts having night terrors.

Shiro gets jolted awake by Keith's cries. They're so loud, it wakes the girls.

"Is Papa ok?!" Romi asks.

"He's having a night terror."

"Should we wake him?" Katie asks.

Its Allie who answers.

"You're not supposed to wake someone having a night terror."

"Allie's right. We're supposed to help it pass. It would actually scare him more to wake him up."

"So what can we do?"

"We're need to help soothe Dad to sleep," Allie says.

The four of them try everything they can think of, but nothing seems to be helping.

After a while Shiro and the girls back off.

Shiro looks at them.

"Could one of you girls get your Gramma? She might know something that can help."

Katie and Romi both run from the room, leaving Allie and Shiro alone with Keith. A few doboshes later, they return with Krolia.

Krolia sits on the bed beside Keith and pulls him into her arms. As she rocks him, she sings what sounds like a lullaby to him. Immediately, he starts calming down. Soon he's sound asleep once more.

"He should rest peacefully now," Krolia tells them as she lays him back down.

"Thanks Krolia."

The older Galra smiles at Shiro before leaving.

Romi and Katie give their father kisses before returning to bed, leaving Shiro and Allie alone with Keith once more.

"Dad didn't have night terrors last time he was pregnant. I hated not knowing what to do."

"I know the feeling."

Allie looks up at Shiro and for the first time since they met, he doesn't see a protective daughter, he sees a 5 year old worried for her father.

"You really love him... don't you?"

Shiro kneels down to Allie's level.

"With all my heart, Allie. He's walked through hell and back for me. He was there for me when my own fiance' at the time wasn't. I just want him to take care of him."

"That's all I want, too."

"I also want to take care of you and your sisters, too. I know I'm not your other Dad. He was a wonderful person and I have no intentions of taking his place. But I'd still like to take care of you three."

He holds a hand out to her.

"If you'll let me."

When Allie takes his hand she gives him the exact same look Keith gave him when Shiro vowed he would never give up on him.

His suspicions are confirmed the following night when Shiro and Keith are tucking the girls in for the night.

"Dad?"

"Yes, Allura?"

"I like Shiro. Can he be our third Dad?"

Shiro's heart soars at the question.

Keith smiles at Shiro before he answers.

"We'll see."

He's be lying if he said he didn't fist pump quietly once he and Keith got back outside.

~

Keith has a few more night terrors, but they and the morning sickness disappear around the start of the third month.

A week into the third month, Keith determines he's having both a boy and a girl.

Then because nothing is ever easy for them, life decides to throw a wrench into things.

~

They've infiltrated a Children space station when they're attacked by an army of drones. Just when they need help most, a stranger appears out of nowhere and slices through drone after drone.

Its when the last drone falls that Shiro notice the stranger's sword is a luxite blade.

Its shaped like a falchion.

Keith stares in shock as the person turns around.

Its Drax.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The awkward moment when you create an OC you had every intention of kill off only for you to love him so much you can't keep him dead. So yeah, say hi to Drax guys.
> 
> I assure you, his comeback does play into the story.


	9. Chapter 9

“Is that…?”

They hear a snarl echo the room as Keith awakens his blade and rushes forward. Shiro hears the sound of a bayard weapon forming to his right and knows Lance has his sniper rifle ready at the first hint that Keith is in danger.

The other Galra immediately drops his Blade and puts his hands up to show he isn’t a threat.

Keith stops with the sharp edge of his blade in a kill position right over Drax’s throat.

Keith’s voice shakes emotionally as he growls.

_“Who are you?!”_

“Keith… babe, it’s me. Drax.”

**“BULLSHIT!”**

There’s so much anguish in Keith’s voice, it breaks Shiro’s heart.

“The real Drax is dead! I held him in my arms as he breathed his last breath! I buried him myself! That was almost 2 deca-phoebs ago! So don't lie to me. WHO. ARE. YOU?!”

Silence hangs in the air as they wait for the other man to answer.

He chuckles warmly before giving Keith a look of pure love.

“That’s my Keith.”

Keith is completely stunned.

“What?”

“I knew you wouldn't fall for something like this a second time.”

“Y…You’re a clone?”

Drax nods.

“Sent by the Hands of Haggar.”

“Keith?”

Keith turns to Pidge.

“What should we do?”

“I…”

Keith looks from them, back at Drax, and then back at them before bolting for the Black Lion. Shiro runs after him, leaving Lance, Pidge, and Hunk to watch Drax.

Shiro finds Keith curled up on the berth inside the living quarters for the Black Lion with the blanket wrapped around himself. His heart breaks at the tears rolling silently down Keith’s face.

He sits silently beside Keith on the bed. When he rests his hand on Keith’s shoulder, Keith immediately turns into him and wraps his arms around Shiro. Shiro immediately pulls Keith practically into his lap and holds him protectively.

For several moments, Shiro just holds Keith as the younger man’s mind rages like hurricane.

After a while, the storm passes.

Keith’s voice shakes when he speaks.

“I don’t know what to do…”

Shiro looks down at Keith.

“Could he really be a clone?”

“I truly don’t know. He looks and speaks just like him, the same way your clone did. If I didn't know better, I'd say he is him.”

“Is it even possible?”

Keith looks up at Shiro.

“That’s the worst part of this. Yes.”

Shiro waits for Keith to explain.

“The Hands of Haggar are what remains of the Druids. They have the know how to clone someone because they did it for Haggar on a large scale. Also, the blade he’s carrying is definitely Drax’s blade. I would know it anywhere. Drax’s Blade was left behind during the ambush. There was plenty of Drax’s blood on the ground where we were fighting. If they found his blade, they would have also found plenty of his blood on the ground. And Drax’s blade will only awaken for him or someone related to him. That’s how Mom and I are able to use the same Blade.”

“Guess the only way we’ll know is to get him back to the Phoenix. Are you going to tell the girls?”

Keith’s answer is immediate.

“No. Or at least, not yet. First, we have to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself and he’s not a danger to them.”

Once Keith has gotten himself together, they return to the others who all still have their weapons trained on Drax.

Keith immediately assumes command again.

“We need answers, but this is not the place for them. We need to get back to Phoenix. However, you will be blindfolded and restrained and kept in the brig until we can run a full bio-scan.”

Drax just nods amiably.

“I know the Kuron Protocol.”

Shiro looks at Keith curiously.

“There’s a Kuron Protocol?”

Keith turns to the Paladins.

“I’ll explain later. For now…”

He turns back to Drax.

"You will not ride back with me in the Black Lion. My daughters have been through hell already. They will not see you until I can ensure their safety.”

"You're the boss here," Drax tells him.

“He’ll ride with me in Green.”

Pidge steps forward and pulls something out of her belt.

“I just developed this not long ago. Hands.”

Drax holds his wrists out and she slaps in on them. Immediately glowing green coils wind their way around both his wrists.

Keith takes Drax’s now deactivated blade and they all head back to their Lions and take off.

~

Keith must com ahead because Acxa, Zethrid, and Ezor are standing in the Lion bay with Krolia and Keith’s daughters.

While Keith and Shiro distract the girls with Krolia’s help, the other Paladins bring Drax to the three Blades waiting for them who then help them take him to the brig.

Krolia takes the girls so the Paladins can debrief.

That day, Pidge runs a complete bio-scan on him.

“Well?”

Pidge shows Keith the results.

“It’s just like with the Shiro clone. He’s an exact clone of Drax. Compared with Drax's original bio-scan, they’re almost an exact match.”

There’s a tone of intrigue in her voice.

“Why almost?”

Pidge points at something on the scan.

“There’s a kind of implant on the upper left side of Drax’s brain. Dad found one just like it in Shiro’s brain during the surgery for Shiro’s floating arm of glowiness. Shiro often complained of headaches. We think that’s what Haggar used to not only spy on us but also cause him to go apeshit.”

“So they WERE planting him as a spy,” Keith affirms.

Pidge nods.  
“It certainly seems so. The clone’s old arm acted as a kind of antenna. When you cut off the arm, it severed her connection.”

“So can we disarm this bomb before it blows up in our face?” Lance asks.

“I think so. Even if we don’t know what the antenna is, it doesn’t matter. We can just remove the implant and it should break the connection.”

“We still need answers,” Hunk asks.

“One thing at a time,” Keith tells him. “Right now, let’s deal with the implant and go from there.”

~

They tell Drax they have a plan of action, but can’t tell him about it.

He cooperates completely with them and the following day, the implant is successfully removed.

Once he’s recovered, Keith approaches his bed with Shiro and the other Paladins to question him.

“Just guessing this is the obligatory interrogation?”

Keith nods.

“Let me save you some time. The Hands of Haggar found my blade at the ambush site and got the idea from Project Kuron to create a clone of me to act as a spy.”

“That much we figured out for ourselves,” Pidge tells him.

“How many clones were made?” Lance asks.

“Just me. There was only enough DNA to make one viable clone. They wanted the perfect spy. Someone who could get close to Keith and they felt cloning me was the best chance. Except they made several mistakes making me.”

“Which are?” Shiro asks.

“The core of it is they made me too much like myself. They wanted me to be able to spy for them so they kept as much of my personality, memories, and such as possible. In fact, they kept almost all of it, except the memory of me dying in the ambush."

"How do you remember the ambush ending?"

"It just blacks out during my fight with the Children of the Empire."

He looks at Keith.

"I'm assuming that's when I died."

Keith shakes his head.

"That's when you took the killing blow, but you regained consciousness for a bit after I got you inside the Yellow Lion. You died in my arms before we could get back to base."

"Thing is, I’m already a very skilled and experienced spy. I knew how to play along with them until they eventually sent me on my way. They also miscalculated a lot of things.”

“Like the fact that we’re not dumb enough to fall for the same trick a second time?” Pidge asks.

“That.”

Drax looks at Keith warmly.

“But they also underestimated how much I love you.”

Keith blushes a little.

“Then again, we already know the Druids and old empire viewed love and compassion for others as a weakness,” Pidge points out.

“So… what now?” Lance asks.

“Let’s put anything else on hold until tomorrow,” Shiro suggests.

The others might not see it, but Shiro can tell this conversation is taking an emotional toll on him.

“Gotta say, man. Circumstances aside, it’s nice to meet you at least,” Hunk states amiably.

Drax smiles back at him.

“Likewise. Keith's told me so much about you all. I always told Keith you guys would make amends one day.”

Drax notices Keith’s pregnant belly then and his smile grows as he looks at Keith’s face.

“I see you’ve kept busy too. Congrats.”

Keith blushes.

“That’s been a recent thing.”

“Still. I’m glad you finally reconnected with the other Paladins.”

“The Children didn’t give me much choice.”

Drax looks at Shiro.

“It’s nice to finally meet you face to face as well. Can I assume you’re the new partner?”

Shiro nods.

“Thank you for being there for Keith when we should have been.”

Drax waves it off.

“Speaking of children, any idea when you’re going to tell the girls?” Lance asks.

Keith sighs heavily.

“Probably tomorrow morning or something.”

“After the three of you have a conversation I’m assuming.”

“Pidge!”

Pidge looks indignantly at Lance.

“What!? I’m just pointing out the obvious!”

Drax laughs.

“Can you guys leave us?” Keith asks them.

Hunk nods before leaving with Lance and Pidge.

Shiro turns to leave too but is stopped by a tug on his left hand. He looks and sees its Keith. He doesn't speak, but he doesn't need to.

The others disappear, leaving Shiro alone with Drax and Keith.

For several minutes, Keith says nothing, but Shiro can see Keith’s mind is raging again.  
  
Drax rests his hand on Keith’s shoulder and Keith all but throws himself into Drax’s arms. Keith grips Drax’s medbay shirt as the tears flow in rivers down Keith’s face.

Drax just wraps an arm around Keith and holds him.

Over and over, he breathes the same thing.

“It’s ok, Keith…”

Shiro almost feels like an intruder as he sits on the bed with them, letting Keith know he’s there if he needs him.

Eventually, Keith cries himself to sleep clinging to Drax.

Drax gently lays Keith on the bed beside him.

His voice is a low growl when he speaks.

“I swear, I’m going to kill every last one of those Druids for putting Keith through this.”

Drax’s words send a spike of fury through Shiro.

“If you need a lift, let me know." Shiro breathes in agreement. "It was bad enough he had to deal with this bullshit with me. I can’t imagine what he’s feeling.”

Drax looks up at Shiro.

“Forgive me for saying, but I kinda think this time is worse.”

Drax looks down at Keith again.

“He was trying to move on. However hard it must have been for him, he was trying to heal, to move past it. Now the Druids have reopened that wound. My soul wasn’t saved by a Lion and put into the body of a clone. I literally AM the clone. He held the original Drax as he died and now here I am. I may look like him, think like him, act like him, and talk like him, even have his DNA, but I’m not the real Drax.”

“No, I agree. This it worse. Honestly though, I don’t think Keith really cares about you being a clone or not. As far as he’s concerned, you ARE Drax. I’m pretty sure if Keith had had the option, he would have saved both me AND my clone as separate people.”

“Still, I feel like my presence here is hurting more than help...”

Shiro cuts Drax off.

“I know where that line of thinking is coming from, but I know for a fact he’s still in love with you. Any version of you.”

Shiro looks at Keith.

“I know, because Keith loves with his entire being and he has so much love to give. His love for me didn’t stop when he was with you so why would the other way around be any different.”

Drax is quiet for a while.

“Drax?”

The Galra looks up at Shiro.

“I know what you’re thinking right now, because I thought it too. I’m going to tell you right now, don’t make the same mistake I did. Don’t distance yourself from him because you feel like he’d be happier without you.”

Shiro looks back at Keith.

“Trust me when I say you’ll regret it. It won’t make him happier, it’ll just make you both miserable.”

Drax looks up at Shiro for a moment.

“Are you ok with such an arrangement? My understanding is such a relationship is considered taboo in your culture.”

“It actually depends on the culture and the person you ask. Earth has many. I personally never thought of it before. Keith’s pretty much the third relationship I’ve ever been in. Before Voltron, I was more focused on achieving my dreams before my disease claimed my life.”

“And now?”

“Honestly, all that matters to me is that Keith is happy. After all the bullshit the universe puts him through, he deserves to be loved by two husbands.”

Drax chuckles at that.

“Besides, I know for a fact he still has flashbacks and nightmares from when my clone tried to kill him during the war. I can’t pull him out of those because I’m literally in them.”

“I’m sure now he has flashbacks and nightmares from the ambush that killed me,” Drax admits in agreement.

Drax smiles at Shiro.

“Thanks, Shiro.”

“Hey, if we’re sharing a husband, we should at least not hate each other.”

Drax has to stop himself from laughing out loud.


	10. Chapter 10

“You wanted to see us, Papa?”

Shiro sits on the couch in the lounge outside the quarters next to the girls.

“Yes. I’m kinda unsure where to begin.”

Keith paces the room a minute before turning back to them and getting down on their level.

“You girls remember that story I told you? About the evil witch that did terrible things to Papa Shiro?”

The girls all nod.

“Well you remember how one of the things she did was she made a clone of him and brought him back from the dead?”

The girls nod again.

“Well, it seems the Hands of Haggar, her assistants, did it again. Only, they didn’t clone Papa Shiro. They cloned your other Papa.”

Romelle jumps to her feet.

“Poppa’s alive again?!”

“Ask me yourself.”

The three girls all whirl around and see Drax leaning against the wall.

“Poppa!”

Romelle leaps over the couch and all but tackles Drax, followed by Katie.

Only Allie looks confused and a little unnerved.

“Pop died.”

She’s visibly trembling as she looks at Keith, then at Shiro. She looks back at Drax.

“We were at the funeral! Dad lost our brothers that same night! People don’t come back when they die!”

Drax looks at her warmly.

“I know this is confusing Allie. It’s confusing to me too. If it makes you feel better, your Dad had the exact same reaction.”

Allie looks at Keith.

“Dad?”

“It’s a shock for me too, Allie. Believe me.”

Allie looks so scared looking up at Shiro.

“It’s your Pop in every way that matters, Allie. Just like my clone was me in every way that mattered.”

Allie is still freaked out.

“It’s ok if you still need time to adjust, Allie,” Drax tells her. “I know all this is really weird and awkward. And like you said, people who die don’t usually come back. Just take your time.”

~

The following morning after breakfast, Keith’s com goes off.

It’s Pidge.

“Shiro, Keith, we have a situation. Bring Drax to the briefing room. It involves him.”

The three of them look at each other before kissing the girls good-bye and going where they’re told. They find Pidge with Lance, Hunk, Matt, and Romelle.

“Pidge?”

“We have a security breech,” Matt tells them.

“And you think Drax is responsible,” Keith suggests.

“No actually, I’m 99% sure he’s not,” Pidge tells him. “At least, not directly anyway. The breech happened while we were all interrogating Drax. I think he might have actually been a distraction or decoy.”

Keith, Matt, and Romelle look at each other with a frown.

“You three don’t seem surprised by this,” Hunk asks.

“We have suspected for some time, this merely confirms it,” Romelle explains.

Keith looks at them.

“There’s a spy on my crew.”

“What made you suspicious?” Lance asks.

“Remember the attacks on you guys?”

They nod at Matt’s question.

“It happened literally the day after we found the Green Lion. Our suspicion was that the Children had somehow gotten word that we had all the Voltron Lions and were attempting to kill you guys before we could get you.”

“But the only way they would have known would be if someone on my ship told them because NO ONE outside the Phoenix even knew we had gone to get the Green Lion at that point, let alone that we found her.”

“I hate to be **_that_ **person, but there are a lot of Galra on your crew who could be Soldiers in disguise,” Hunk points out.

“Yeah, but we can’t know for sure and to treat all the Galra members of the crew like a threat just because one of them MIGHT be one is kind of a dickly thing to do,” Matt points out. “Especially with the race’s history and what not. Keep in mind, the spy could also be a drone or something.”

“Matt’s right. At this point, all we know for sure is that there IS a spy,” Keith states.

“Where WAS the security breech?” Shiro asks.

“My lab,” Pidge states.

“Which is another reason why I don’t think any of the Galra crew members are the spy,” Matt continues. “Everything in Pidge’s lab and such uses an encryption code using a cypher known only to members of our family.”

“And since our parents aren’t here and neither of us are the spy, you’d either have to be a REALLY good codebreaker or a computer to decipher my encryption codes.”

“Do you know what was taken?” Drax asks.

“That’s the weirdest part of this,” Pidge says. “The only thing that was taken was a program for a new kind of communication system I’m working on that projects a life like holographic image.”

“What could they possibly want with a program like that?” Hunk asks.

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Why were you making such a device anyway?”

Pidge blushes and coughs at Romelle’s question.

“Erm… well… uh…”

“Pidge has a girlfriend!” Matt teases.

“She’s not my girlfriend! We’re just really, really good friends.”

“That go on dates?”

“They’re not dates! We’re just hanging out!”

“And kiss.”

“That was one time!”

“The last time you saw her maybe.”

“Matt!”

“Katie, if you’re just friends, then why are you so flustered?”

“Because fuck you!”

“So it’s for a communication system?” Shiro asks giving Pidge an out.

“Basically I wanted to make a better way to call Earth from space and vice versa.”

“To talk to her g…”

Pidge kicks the chair out from under her brother before he can finish his sentence.

Drax laughs.

“Now I see why Keith named our daughter after you!”

“Somehow that reminds me. Drax, can I take a sample from you?”

“Uhh…”

“Pidge, you might want to explain because that sounded kinda creepy,” Lance points out.

“I meant, can I cut a little piece off of you to analyze it?”

“That didn’t sound much better, Pidge,” Lance tells her.

Hunk steps in.

“Keith’s mom needs a new liver and heart.”

This gets Drax’s attention.

“What! Why?!”

Drax gives Keith a concerned look.

“Quintessence poisoning,” is all he says.

“I’ve developed a way to clone human organs using analyses from both Shiro’s original body and his clone body. I’ve been trying to use the same method with Galra tissue, but it hasn’t been working. As fucked up as it is, the Druids just did me a huge favor by cloning you and then sending you to us because now not only do we have a successful human clone, but we have a successful Galra clone too.”

Drax catches on.

“So you’re going to use the analyses from my original body scans and my current body to develop a method to clone Galra organs?”

“Yes! Once I figure that out, it’s literally a matter of taking healthy cells from Krolia’s heart and liver and cloning them. After that, it’s a simple heart and liver transplant. With your permission of course.”

“By all means, if it’s to try and save Krolia.”

Hunk nudges Keith playfully.

“What did we tell you, Keith? We won’t let Krolia die.”

Shiro can tell Keith doesn’t find this comforting.

~

His suspicions are confirmed that afternoon when Shiro and Drax step inside the lounge and Drax immediately freezes in place after sniffing the air.

“Oh no…”

Shiro looks at him.

“What?”

Drax looks at him.

“You don’t smell that, do you?”

Shiro shakes his head.

“I’ll explain later.”

Drax bolts inside Keith’s quarters and straight into the bedroom.

Shiro follows after him, noticing the pillows have been pulled off the couch again.

When they get inside the room, Keith made himself a nest again like he did when he was in heat. Except, he’s not in heat.

He looks really distraught.

Shiro hears Drax make a kind of chirp noise of concern. Keith whimpers back and Drax immediately crawls over and holds him.

Shiro follows Drax’s lead and lays on the other side of Keith.

For what feels like an eternity, they silently hold him.

“It’s too good…”

“What is?” Shiro asks.

“Everything. You and the others coming back into my life, you and I being together, being pregnant again, Drax being alive again, and now a cure’s been found for my mom’s illness. It’s too good to be true. I’m never this lucky. Something’s going to happen. Something I hold dear is going to be taken away from me again.”

Shiro and Drax share a look of understanding over Keith’s head. Neither of them speaks. They both know nothing they say will soothe Keith without making a promise they can’t keep. So they both just hold Keith as he falls into a deep, but restless sleep.

“I wish I could do more for him…” Shiro whispers to Drax as they watch Keith sleep.

“Same.”

Shiro looks at Drax.

“How did you know something was wrong?”

“Keith and Matt explained Galra reproductive genders to you right?”

Shiro nods.

“Well, one of the things all Galra have what are called scent glands located on our neck. When a Galra feels a strong emotion, it emits a scent or smell, depending on the emotion. Its only detectable by someone with a heightened sense of smell like we do, which is why you didn't notice before. Keith’s distress scent is so strong, I could smell it the moment we stepped into the lounge. And the walls of this ship are built with Galra reproductive needs in mind. So for me to smell him through two closed doors of a well insulated room can only mean he's extremely upset.”

They fall silent for a few seconds.

“It hurts knowing he’s waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under him,” Shiro remarks.

“Honestly, how could he not?” Drax asks. “Every time the universe throws him a bone, it then either takes it away again or takes away something else that means either just as much or more to him. Every. Single. Time.”

They fall silent because neither of them wants to say what they’re both wondering.

If something bad does happen to Keith, will it be the incident that breaks him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I enjoyed writing the part with Matt and Pidge.
> 
> Y'all, I'm going on another short hiatus until after Valentines Day. I have several projects in RL (Including the new Lovers Voltron Tarot card in honor of Valentines day) that need my attention.


	11. Chapter 11

Over the next month and a half, they continue as though the breech hadn’t occurred.

None outside the group that was present in Pidge’s lab, save for Krolia, have been told of the breech.They don't want word getting to the spy that they know about them.

Drax gets reacquainted with his daughters, or tries to at least. Allie is still standoffish with him. Shiro sympathizes with Drax and understands Allie's misgivings about this. He helps where he can, but his biggest concern at the moment is Keith.

Just like always, Keith looks fine as he always does. However, Shiro knows Keith well enough to know that the other man currently has his guard up. Drax has noticed it too. They're both trying to sooth him as best they can, but its hard to do it without making a promise they can't keep. If nothing else, it’s comforting to know Shiro isn’t the only one who knows Keith isn’t as OK as he claims to be. Its helped the two of them get closer if nothing else.

Life continues aboard the Phoenix as they continue their mission.

None of them could have possibly anticipated just how right Keith’s intuition is.

~

A distress call comes from a planet in a nearby star system.

When they arrive in orbit, they discover a planet made almost entirely of metal and covered with industrial buildings.

“It kinda has an industrial revolution look about it,” Hunk points out.

They’ve gathered in the briefing room to formulate a plan.

“The signal is coming from this city,” Pidge informs them.

The image zooms in on a single city with several metallic spires rising above the city line.

“Did the distress call give any kind of information about what the problem is?” Shiro asks.

“Negative,” Romelle tells him. “Just coordinates.”

“But we’ve received distress calls that were just the coordinates with a short “Help” message before. Remember how we met the Olkarions?” Pidge asks.

“True,” Shiro admits.

“Still, we should use caution while we investigate,” Lance states. "I mean, remember Macidus? He used a distress signal too."

“If I can make a suggestion,” Matt begins. “Bring N-7 down with you. If the doors down there are locked using an ancient computer system, she’s your best bet at getting them open.”

“She can ride with me,” Pidge volunteers.

~

As Shiro and the other Paladins suit up, Shiro watches Keith hug his daughters as he leaves them with Drax and Krolia.

“Be careful, Papa,” Romi tells him.  
  
“I’ll be back before you know it,” Keith promises.

Keith and Drax hug.

“Wish I were going with you…” Drax admits. “You know I’ve never liked sitting idle.”

“I know. But someone has to stay here with the girls.”

Shiro approaches them.

“He won’t be alone, Drax,” he assures the Galra.

Drax gives him an appreciative smile as Keith pulls away.

They rest their foreheads together.

“I love you, Keith.”

“Love you too.”

They board the Lions and head down to the building the signal is coming from.

With N-7’s help, they explore the city. All around them are buildings that look like factories.

The city is completely deserted.

They reach the city center when they lose the signal.

Keith turns to them.

“Paladins, we’ll cover more ground if we split up.”

The six of them go in different directions. Hunk, Lance, and Pidge go one way while Shiro, Keith, and N-7 go another way.

~

Shiro looks at Keith after they've walked for a while.

“How are you holding up?”

“Doing just fine,” Keith assures him.

“Let me know if you need to rest, ok?”

Keith gives Shiro’s hand a squeeze.

“Pregnant Galra aren’t like pregnant humans. Even at what would be the equivalent of 5 and a half months pregnant for a human, we don’t fatigue from strenuous physical activity. We’re a warrior race after all. Pregnant Galra who can fight while heavily pregnant without losing their pregnancy are held in extremely high regard.”

Keith’s face falls and Shiro knows he’s thinking about his miscarriage.

“And on Earth, people with uteruses who suffer a miscarriage and survive command respect as well; especially if they conceive again afterward.”

Shiro looks at Keith.

“Don’t forget, you’re still half-human.”

Keith gives him a reassured smile.

~

“Wonder what these factories are used for?” Lance asks.

“I’m guessing…”

“Hunk, I swear to God, if you say sporks, so help me…”

Pidge peaks into a window as they’re walking past one.

“I don't thing these are factories. They look more like assembly rooms for a workshop or lab."

"For what?"

"Well, I'm not sure. But it looks like they're storing some parts to some kind of mech or droid.”

“Like a Galra sentry or something?” Hunk asks.

“Kinda,” Pidge says while looking into another factory. “Only these don’t all look like Galra sentries.”

Pidge gets a nagging feeling then.

“Lets take a closer look inside one.”

They go inside one and find a large store house with nearly completed droids.

~

Shiro starts to get a bad feeling as they get further and further away from the others.

He quietly looks at Keith and can tell by the look in his eyes, that he’s getting the same feeling.

“N-7, I think we should head back to the others,” Keith suggests. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

At that moment, N-7’s scanner goes off.

“I’ve located the signal again. It’s up ahead.”

Shiro’s feeling gets worse.

He gets his Bayard out but doesn’t summon a weapon. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Keith do the same.

~

“Is it just me, or is there something familiar about these droids?” Hunk asks.

“No, I feel it too,” Lance admits.

As she’s exploring the far side of the room Pidge finds a scientific ledger that talks about several failed attempts to create the perfect spy before succeeding on the 7th try. She takes the book with her and finds a small storage room with a row of completed droids in a darkened corner.

When she turns on her light, she immediately jumps back with a yell; immediately recognizing them.

Pidge takes a quick picture before turning on her heel and bolting back toward the boys.

“Pidge?! What’s wrong?”

Lance and Hunk fall into step with her as she runs past them.

Pidge quickly pulls up a map with Keith and Shiro’s signatures on it.

“We have to get to Shiro and Keith. They’re walking into a trap!”

~

Shiro and Keith follow N-7 into what looks like some kind of lab.

“This… kinda looks like Honerva’s cloning facility…” Keith points out tensely.

“That’s exactly what it is!”

They both turn toward the new voice to see a Galra woman that looks like a female Zarkon, but with brown skin and eyes like Honerva before she became Haggar.

“Who the hell are you?” Keith asks.

“I am Zendra, Daughter of Zarkon and heir to the Galran throne!”

“Lotor has a sister?” Shiro asks.

Zendra sniffs.

“I was not born like my inferior brother was and I am not a half-breed. I was genetically engineered by the Druids to be the perfect heir. I am everything my father wanted in an heir. Ruthless, cunning, ambitious AND I have all of the best traits of Honerva with none of her genetics.”

“If you’re Zarkon’s daughter, then where have you been?” Shiro asks.

“Sadly, Father changed his mind about having an heir. Decided to simply not die instead so he had me frozen in a pod in this very lab.”

Keith frowns.

“If you were frozen in a cryopod, how did you get out?”

“A Druid stumbled upon this place and released me. That was over two deca-phoebs ago.”

They both immediately do the math.

“You’re the one who had the Hands of Haggar join forces with the Soldiers of Zarkon!” Shiro exclaims, giving voice to what Keith is undoubtedly thinking.

“Indeed. Enemy of my enemy.”

Out of nowhere, Soldiers of Zarkon appear everywhere with Druids and sentries scattered among them.

“In fact, this planet has the wormhole generator that will eventually lead to a place so old, only the oldest civilizations know of it.”

"The Universal Cauldron..."

"All we need... is a power source."

Shiro sees the Druids raise their arms and Soldiers their weapons and tackles Keith behind some cover right before they fire.

As Shiro sends out an SOS to Pidge and the others, he hears the unmistakable sound for a sharp intake of breath beside him. He knows before he looks that Keith is having a PTSD flashback from the ambush that claimed the lives of his unborn sons and killed Drax.

Shiro knows these flashbacks well from his time as Black Paladin. He also remembers how Keith was always protecting and defending him while talking him through it whenever he suffered one.

Shiro summons his bayard weapon; a large circle shield and protects them both with it.

“Keith, I need you to breathe.”

“Can’t…do it again…”

Shiro holds him closer.

“Keith, I swear. We’ll be ok. All of us will get out of here together.”

As if on cue, Hunk bursts into the lab with his Bayard and opens fire at the Children of the Empire with his blaster.

Only Pidge can see how the shots hit the sentries while going completely through the Druids and Soldiers.

Shiro’s face brightens.

“See!? There’s the others. Everything will be alright.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that…”

They all look up to where Zendra stands in the rafters.

“Not when I have what you hold dear.”

A figure appears beside her with three squirming figures in their arms.

Shiro’s blood runs cold when he sees its Drax.

His eyes are glowing purple and in his arms are the three girls.

“No…”

Keith moves out of Shiro’s arms and stands with his fists at his sides. He stares at his family as his kids call out to him.

“Dad!”

“Daddy!”

“Help us!”

Keith all but snarls at Zendra.

“Let them go!”

“Ah! Your kind is so easy to manipulate. Your care for others is such a weakness.”

“I’m the one you want, not them! Take me!”

“If you seek a trade, meet at the tower on the far side of the planet from this one. You’ll know it when you see it. It has a giant ring.”

Drax leaves with the girls still calling out to Keith for help.

“Better hurry. Wouldn’t want anything to happen to them, would you?”

Zendra follows.

“Man, I thought we got everything?!” Hunk asks in alarm. "How is she able to still control Drax?!"

“Guys, I don’t think that was…”

Pidge is cut off by the sound of a scuffle nearby.

They look and see Lance trying to stop Keith, who looks ready to commit murder.

“Let me go, Lance!”

“You can’t just go charging off after them! This could be a trap!”

“So what?! That bitch is using my kids as bait!”

Lance doesn’t let go.

“And its working! Keith, you need to calm down. Look down at the Bayard in your hand.”

They all do and see Keith is holding the Black Bayard.

In its corrupted form.

“You’re letting your emotions cloud your judgment. They want you to fall into this trap. Keith, I get it. Believe me I get. I know what you’re going through, but…”

Shiro can practically feel Keith’s rage before he lashes out.

“You have no idea what I’m going through! If they want me, they're about to get more of me than they can handle!”

“Will you stop being selfish for a moment and think, Mullet?! If you charge after them we’ll lose the only way to find Allura!”

Keith freezes in place at that, long enough for Lance to take the Black Bayard from him.

In that moment, Shiro sees his worst fear come to life.

He sees the strongest man he’s ever known break.

As Lance steps away from him, Keith starts to laugh bitterly.

“You know what Lance? For a moment there; you had me fooled…”

Keith turns to Lance as he backs away from them.

Lance looks at him in confusion.

“Wait, what?”

“And to think I genuinely thought you were on my side. But apparently you're only my friend when you can get something out of it. I should have known you were all talk. I mean, you couldn’t even keep your promise to your girlfriend of all people. You didn't even try to find her or save her. Now you just want me to find her for you.”

Lance looks like he's been punched.

In his moment of distraction, the Red Bayard glows red before teleporting itself from Lance’s hand into Keith’s.

“Keith, what the… HEY!”

Keith immediately turns it into his blaster cannon and fires at the floor at Lance’s feet before running off.

Shiro chases after him.

“Keith, wait!”

Keith doesn’t slow down.

Shiro hears the others following behind him, but he couldn’t care less.

The only thing that matters to him is the man ahead of him who undoubtedly feels like his whole world is imploding.

“KEITH!”

Something in Shiro’s voice makes Keith stop.

“Keith, I know you must be hurting right now. I can’t imagine how you’re feeling right now. But you need to be patient...”

Keith cuts Shiro off with a look that tells him Keith’s mind is made up.

“Don’t try to talk me out of this, Shiro! Because I’m done being patient! My entire life, all I’ve ever DONE was be patient. I patiently waited for my father to come home from work, patiently waited for my mom to come back to me, patiently waited for a family, patiently waited for someone to give a shit about me, patiently waited for you to come home, I patiently waited for SOMETHING to go right for once in my miserable life… I’ve waited and waited and I’ve given everything I have and yet every God damn time I decide to do something for myself, SUDDENLY I’m selfish and need to be more patient!”

Keith turns and walks away as a shuttle pulls up.

“I’m done waiting. If the universe won’t cut me a break, I’m going to make it.”

The others catch up to Shiro as Keith takes off.

“Was that N-7 with him on that shuttle?” Pidge asks with a frown.

“Oh, man! This is bad!” Hunk states, not hearing Pidge's question.

“What do we do now?” Lance asks.

“We go after him,” Shiro states plainly.

All three Paladins stare at him.

“We what?”

Shiro looks at Lance.

“Did I stutter? I said we go after him.”

“We need to go back to the Phoenix first,” Pidge interjects.

“Shiro, you realize this is a trap, right?” Lance asks.

“Maybe it is a trap! Ok, maybe Keith is making a mistake charging off like this! I don’t know! All I know is I just watched the strongest man I've ever known break and I'm sitting here doing nothing. The last time we thought Keith following his instincts was a mistake, he turned out to be right and we lost 5 years of his life as a result. We’re Paladins. Win or lose, mistake or not, we do it together. We keep promising we’ll be there for him. Now it’s time to follow through with our promises. Keith’s entire world just came crashing down. He needs us now more than ever! We’re going after him.”

“WILL YOU GUYS SHUT UP FOR A MINUTE AND LISTEN TO ME?!”

The guys all look at Pidge.

“Before we do anything else, we need to go back to the Phoenix first. I think I know what’s going on here, and the only way to confirm it is to go back to the Phoenix and check something.”

“How will we get Black back to the Phoenix?” Lance asks.

“Hunk, you and I will tow him with our Lions.”

“Red doesn’t have his Bayard either.”

“Lance, if I could fly Black without his Bayard, you can fly Red without his.”

~

The moment they land back on The Phoenix, Pidge isn't one bit surprised at what they find.

There, standing off to the side of the Lion Bay with Krolia, are Drax and the three girls; safe and sound.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up, I will try to end this as quickly as I possibly can but it might suddenly get discontinued (I'll post a message if I do as a final chapter. I can't give details right now, but something big is coming that will need my full attention.
> 
> Also, I thank you all for continuing to read this. I know this story might not be going the way some of you hoped it would with me bringing Drax back and having Keith and Shiro be in a poly relationship. I thought it would be nice to give Shiro a character who can relate to him on a more personal level as someone who died and then came back via clone as well as someone else who can spot when Keith needs a little more love and attention but is too on edge to ask for it.


	12. Chapter 12

The moment Shiro sees Drax and the girls, he realizes what Pidge already knew.

The stunned look on Drax and the girls' faces as they stare at the Black Lion laying on his side in the Lion bay breaks Shiro's heart as he and the others exit their Lions.

When Drax looks at him, it breaks even more.

"Where's Keith?"

Pidge steps forward.

"The short version is the Children of the Empire decided to change strategies. Since outright capturing Keith wasn't working, they decided to trick him into coming to them."

“How?” Drax asks.

“We just saw you under their control kidnapping the three girls,” Hunk explains.

“None of them left the ship,” Krolia confirms.

“That’s because no one was in the room but us, N-7, and a few Galra sentries,” Pidge tells them. “I’ll explain in the briefing room.”

On their way to the briefing room, they run into Matt.

“Where’s N-7?”

“Briefing room! I don’t want to explain this more than once!”

The Paladins, Drax, Krolia, Matt, and Romelle are all gathered around the table in the briefing room.

“Ok, Pidge. Explain. How do you know no one else was in that room with us?” Hunk asks.

“Remember the security breech in my lab? They stole a program to create a lifelike holographic image. That’s what that was. A holographic image.”

“But the only way that would have been with would be if…”

Matt trails off as it hits him.

“No… no, don’t tell me…”

Pidge looks apologetically at her brother.

“I’m sorry, Matt; but N-7’s the spy.”

“No! There has to be some other way!”

“Matt, the only way anyone could have gotten into my lab was if they were a member of our family or a computer. N-7 is both.”

“N-7 WAS with us when we picked up the Green Lion,” Romelle points out to him gently. “Also, none but our crew and the highest operatives in the Blades even know of the girls’ existence, let alone what they look like.”

“Apart from Kolivan, of course but I know for a fact he’d die before betray the girls,” Krolia tells them. "They have him firmly wrapped around their little fingers."

“But… but maybe her processor was hacked or something! I mean, it’s a computer, right?”

“I’m sorry, Matt. But I don’t think that’s the case.”

Pidge pulls out a ledger.

“I found this ledger while exploring an assembly room for some kind of mech or droid. Right before I found this.”

She brings up a picture of a room with six completed droids.

All six of them look identical to N-7.

“I think these are Ns 1-6,” Pidge tells him gently. “The ledger mentions that it took seven attempts at making the perfect spy to get one to work.”

She looks at her brother then.

“Matt, she was designed to be a spy.”

Shiro puts an arm around Matt’s shoulder as the other man falls silent.

“Something I don’t understand though.”

They all look at Hunk as he asks.

“Who was that Galra chick that looked like Zarkon?”

“She said her name was Zendra and that she was Zarkon’s daughter,” Shiro tells them.

“Zarkon’s daughter?” Hunk asks. “You mean Lotor has a sister?”

“There were rumors in the early days of the Blades of such an heir, but they mysteriously stopped after a while.”

“They’re more than just rumors, Krolia. They’re true.”

They look at Drax.

“You know something about this, Drax?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.”

“If anyone would know of such things, it is him,” Krolia confirms. “It was his role in the Blades and Empire to keep track of history throughout the war. It is likely how he was able to survive when the Blades were being hunted. Only Kolivan and I knew he was even there.”

“She said she was designed by the Druids to be the perfect heir,” Shiro states.

“That she was,” Drax confirms. “After Lotor was exiled from the empire, Zarkon felt he still needed an heir so he decided to genetically engineer the perfect heir by Galra standards. They essentially attempted to clone Zarkon. It’s how the Druids knew how to clone you and me.”

“If she’s a clone of Zarkon, why is she a female Galra? I’m assuming, this is a Galra thing?” Hunk asks.

“It is!” Drax confirms. “I understand in humans, a biological male is needed to create another biological male; yes?”

They all nod.

“With Galra, it’s the opposite. Either a female Beta, an omega, or a biological female alien is needed to create a male. Zarkon was an alpha male. By using only Zarkon to create the clone, it could only produce a female clone. Now if Zendra were cloned, she would be able to produce either a male or female clone, depending on the state of the genetic code. There’s also a lot of what Keith called “hand-wavy space magic shit” involved with it, but basically that’s it.”

Drax has a fond smile on his face that quickly morphs into worry at the mention of Keith.

“Zendra said Zarkon “changed his mind about having an heir” and that he decided to just simply “not die”,” Shiro says getting the briefing back on track.

“Ah! Yes, well. There’s an Earth saying I believe that sums it up best. “Be careful what you wish for.” Zendra is every bit as cunning, ruthless, and ambitious as Zarkon. Too much in fact. She went completely insane and tried to kill him and Haggar. That’s when Zarkon decided to just never die. All record of her outside where I was stationed was struck from memory until only rumors remained.”

"She's also the reason the Hands of Haggar teamed up with the Soldiers of Zarkon."

"Makes sense."

“Ok, so now that we know who we’re fighting, let’s go after Keith before they kill him,” Hunk suggests.

“But who will fly the Black Lion?” Romelle asks.

“I will.” Shiro states confidently.

Krolia gives him a look of approval.

“Paladins, Let’s get to our Lions!”

A small blush appears on Drax’s face at the tone in Shiro's voice.

“I’m coming too!” Matt insists. “I still think N-7 can be saved.”

“You can ride with me in Green.”

As they’re all leaving, it takes Shiro a minute to realize Lance hasn’t moved.

He hasn’t said a word since they left the planet.

Shiro sits down beside him.

“You alright?”

Lance glances at him briefly as he speaks.

“Yeah… just thinking…”

Shiro waits for Lance to continue on his own time.

“You know… back when Keith and I used to fight all the time… I never really noticed how much Keith pulled his punches back then…and there were times where we’d get into it. But even when I would successfully get under his skin and we were really going at it, he still held back. I know now that he was holding back because when Keith is really trying, he knows **_exactly _**where to hit to make it hurt.”

“You’re talking about what he said to you in the warehouse. You know he didn’t mean it, right.”

“Of course, I do. It’s fucking Keith! When we get him back, knowing him he’ll immediately apologize and say “you were trying to help me and I should be grateful” or some bullshit like that. But the thing is… he’s right. It hurts to admit it, but… he’s right.”

Lance looks at Shiro.

“Did you know I was the first person Keith turned to back when he tried to get us to help him find Allura? Before he even went to you or the others, before he knew for sure Allura was calling him, he came to me. I think he figured I’d be desperate to find her… to find a way to get her back. But, I was a mess after the war, especially when the Lions left. You guys didn’t know it, but I spent those first two years after the war drinking my sorrows away. I’d clean-up for the anniversary reunion, but when I got back, I went straight back to my bottle. I just accepted it. I didn’t even try to fight it… I didn’t even try to stop her… or get her back. She was just gone. That was it. I think Keith was the only one who noticed I was becoming an alcoholic. He came to me first because he knew how much I was hurting from it… probably because he knows what it feels like. He was trying to give me hope. To help me get clean and give me something to fight for, but I was too busy feeling sorry for myself.”

“You regretted it the moment he left, didn’t you?”

Shiro’s question is more statement, but Lance still nods.

“The week after Keith left I checked myself into a rehab. Been clean ever since. Was going to tell him at the reunion, but…”

“He didn’t come that year.”

“Thing is though, he was right. Keith’s the one who fought for Allura, who worked for it, bled for it, sacrificed for it… almost until it killed him. And now that he’s done all the work, here I am riding his coat tails. From his point of view… that’s exactly what our friendship looks like… Like I’m only his friend when I can get something out of it. I mean, I haven’t even apologized for all the times I used to bully him.”

Shiro opened his mouth to object, but Lance stops him.

“Shiro. We both know that was bullying. I was so jealous of his piloting ability and his friendship with you that I put him down every chance I got. You weren’t there after you “disappeared”. I actually accused him of lying to take over when he told us you wanted him to lead. But the moment Black chose him, you know what he did? He tried to give it to me. After I accused him of trying to steal it for himself, the first thing he tried to do was give it away.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Shiro admits with a frown. “He never wanted to lead Voltron. Command suits him and he IS a born leader, but only in situations that don’t have him in the spotlight. Which is something the Black Paladin needs to be able to do.”

“And now, I was dumb enough to call him “selfish” after he saw what he thought was his kids being kidnapped by the clone of their other father. He’s the least selfish person I’ve ever met.”

Lance looks down at his hands.

“If either of us is selfish, it’s me.”

“I think we all were being selfish back then. I don’t know what happened between Keith, Hunk, and Pidge, but I’m sure it was something similar. Now we have a chance to make up for that.”

Shiro hands Lance back the Blue Bayard.

“If I’m flying Black again, you should be in Blue.”

Lance gives Shiro a smile and takes the Bayard.

As the two walk into the Lion bay, Drax and the three girls are having a standoff with Hunk and Pidge.

“Shiro, please talk some sense into these four!” Pidge says in exasperation.

“What’s going on?”

Drax looks at Shiro.

“We’re coming with you. I’m not sitting on the sidelines while my partner’s in danger.”

“You’re not the one we have a problem with coming,” Pidge tells him.

“That’s **_our_** Dad out there!” Allie tells her. “What are we supposed to do? Just wait until you come back and tell us he’s dead!”

“Girls, we’re not going to let that happen,” Hunk assures them.

"Not good enough!" Romi tells them.

"We've almost lost him once!" Katie concludes.

Romi stares at Pidge.

“If this were your Papa, would you let anyone to force you NOT to try and save him?”

Katie looks straight at Hunk.

“If your Daddy were in danger like this, would you sit still when you have chance to save him?”

Hunk and Pidge both shut up immediately. Because both of them have done exactly what the girls are doing.

All three girls look at Shiro.

“You need someone who can fly the Red Lion!” Allie tells him. “I’m the only other person here who can fly the Red Lion.”

“We’re going!”

“End story.”

Shiro blinks as three little Keiths look up at him with the same fierce look of determination Keith gets when he’s doing something no matter what. He couldn’t tell them not to, even if he’d wanted to.

He raises an eyebrow at Drax.

"I'm just backing them up."

Shiro looks back at the girls.

“To your Lions then.”

“I will remain and provide back up from the Phoenix,” Krolia tells them.

They quickly run to their Lions and take off.

"Lets go save Keith!" Shiro states.


	13. HIATUS

GOING ON A BRIEF HIATUS FROM THIS SPECIFIC FIC UNTIL EITHER I FINISH MY BOOK OR THE VIRUS GOES AWAY AND MY SON CAN GO BACK TO SCHOOL. ANY ENERGY THAT ISN'T GOING TO KEEPING MY FAMILY FROM DYING OR GOING INSANE WILL BE GOING INTO FINISHING MY BOOK (THE EXCEPTION IS WHEN THINGS MOVE FORWARD WITH A PROJECT I MIGHT BE GETTING INVOLVED WITH).

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE.


	14. Temporarily Discontinued

This fic is being temporarily discontinued. I've volunteered to write for the Voltron Fan Project

For details, please go to https://vldefander.tumblr.com/


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